Scoop27
08-07-2015, 12:47 PM
From The Brazosport Facts
SWEENY — Sweeny Bulldog head coach Joseph Olguin installed new offensive and defensive systems last season, and a year’s experience with the new playbooks will make for smooth sailing in preseason workouts.
“It’s going good,” Olguin said after Wednesday’s practice. “It’s the second year in the system, so, for the kids, the learning curve isn’t as big this year and they’re catching on. Pretty much I think they’ve found that it’s more of a review and polish for them, so it’s been good in that we haven’t had to spend so much time on one thing. We don’t have to re-teach things.”
To get started, the Bulldogs began practices this week literally as early as University Interscholastic League rules allow — their second annual Midnight Madness opener kicked off just after midnight Monday.
“We did that last year, and the kids loved it, so we felt it was something we needed to do again,” Olguin said. “We had a nice contingent of parents out there, so that was good.”
Preseason practices continued at 7 a.m. Tuesday and will run each weekday morning until school starts Aug. 24. Full-pad workouts will begin today.
The Bulldogs have two preseason scrimmages scheduled — hosting Stafford on Aug. 14 and visiting Palacios on Aug. 21.
Only in shorts and T-shirts, the players were acclimating themselves to the hot weather until today, which is the first day they can don pads.
“We don’t want entitlements,” Olquin said. “We don’t want the guys to think, ‘I’m entitled to a certain position just because I started there last year.’”
One key position the Bulldogs will be looking to fill is quarterback. Last year’s starter Cody Erikson will devote his attention solely to baseball and will not play football his senior year.
“That was a hard decision for him, and he did what he felt was best,” Olguin said. “I support him 100 percent. He is a great kid and a great athlete.”
Among the players competing to fill the vacancy is junior Evan Green.
“Green has a lot of confidence,” Olguin said. “His main thing is getting to game speed. He had no varsity experience last year, so game speed to him is going to be a little bit different versus JV, what he was accustomed to.”
Some players that will help Green ease into the position are returning wide receivers Clayton Gilbert and Derek Davis.
“They are going to be the strength offensively for us,” Olguin said. “They’ll create a lot of problems for defenses.”
The Bulldogs are feeling confident about their offensive line as well.
“We finally got some size coming there,” Olguin said. “We’ve always been blessed with skilled kids here, but we finally got some lineman-type kids coming through here, and we think they’re going to do a lot of positive things this year.”
Preseason blogs and publications are optimistic about the Bulldogs in 2015, saying the team has the potential to improve on last year’s third-place district finish and contend for the district title.
“I agree with that,” Olguin said. “We’ve got a legitimate shot. We’ll never settle for third with these kids. I believe in them. I think if they work hard enough, buy in and execute, we’ll be just fine. Coming that last week of our district schedule at the end of the season, we should be fighting it out for one of those top spots. We’re not a third-place team.”
The team opens the regular season Aug. 28 at Van Vleck.
SWEENY — Sweeny Bulldog head coach Joseph Olguin installed new offensive and defensive systems last season, and a year’s experience with the new playbooks will make for smooth sailing in preseason workouts.
“It’s going good,” Olguin said after Wednesday’s practice. “It’s the second year in the system, so, for the kids, the learning curve isn’t as big this year and they’re catching on. Pretty much I think they’ve found that it’s more of a review and polish for them, so it’s been good in that we haven’t had to spend so much time on one thing. We don’t have to re-teach things.”
To get started, the Bulldogs began practices this week literally as early as University Interscholastic League rules allow — their second annual Midnight Madness opener kicked off just after midnight Monday.
“We did that last year, and the kids loved it, so we felt it was something we needed to do again,” Olguin said. “We had a nice contingent of parents out there, so that was good.”
Preseason practices continued at 7 a.m. Tuesday and will run each weekday morning until school starts Aug. 24. Full-pad workouts will begin today.
The Bulldogs have two preseason scrimmages scheduled — hosting Stafford on Aug. 14 and visiting Palacios on Aug. 21.
Only in shorts and T-shirts, the players were acclimating themselves to the hot weather until today, which is the first day they can don pads.
“We don’t want entitlements,” Olquin said. “We don’t want the guys to think, ‘I’m entitled to a certain position just because I started there last year.’”
One key position the Bulldogs will be looking to fill is quarterback. Last year’s starter Cody Erikson will devote his attention solely to baseball and will not play football his senior year.
“That was a hard decision for him, and he did what he felt was best,” Olguin said. “I support him 100 percent. He is a great kid and a great athlete.”
Among the players competing to fill the vacancy is junior Evan Green.
“Green has a lot of confidence,” Olguin said. “His main thing is getting to game speed. He had no varsity experience last year, so game speed to him is going to be a little bit different versus JV, what he was accustomed to.”
Some players that will help Green ease into the position are returning wide receivers Clayton Gilbert and Derek Davis.
“They are going to be the strength offensively for us,” Olguin said. “They’ll create a lot of problems for defenses.”
The Bulldogs are feeling confident about their offensive line as well.
“We finally got some size coming there,” Olguin said. “We’ve always been blessed with skilled kids here, but we finally got some lineman-type kids coming through here, and we think they’re going to do a lot of positive things this year.”
Preseason blogs and publications are optimistic about the Bulldogs in 2015, saying the team has the potential to improve on last year’s third-place district finish and contend for the district title.
“I agree with that,” Olguin said. “We’ve got a legitimate shot. We’ll never settle for third with these kids. I believe in them. I think if they work hard enough, buy in and execute, we’ll be just fine. Coming that last week of our district schedule at the end of the season, we should be fighting it out for one of those top spots. We’re not a third-place team.”
The team opens the regular season Aug. 28 at Van Vleck.