Friday, Jun. 20, 2008

Jaguars Answering Questions

Football Journal

By John English

Contributing Writer

The Flower Mound football team has gotten off to a great start this 7-on-7 season, and coach Cody Vanderford said he is impressed with the depth that he has seen at his skills positions to this point.

The Jaguars competed in two tournaments last week, and Vanderford said he likes the idea of getting his team as much playing time this summer as possible.

"We’re playing in a weekly league, and then we played in a tournament in Coppell," Vanderford said. "We’re playing quite a bit, and we have several groups playing. The varsity looked very good. They went 3-1 over at the L.D. Bell league and on Saturday, we had about six or seven kids missing taking the ACT for the Coppell tournament, so we went 1-2, but we’re not going to use that as an excuse."

Flower Mound lost to Rowlett in overtime and Lamar by one point, while defeating Duncanville by one point at Coppell.

"Our objectives are A, to get the kids to be able to throw and catch over the summer months," Vanderford said. "I think, B, it develops camaraderie between the groups of players and C, I think it’s important for our quarterbacks to throw to their receivers. I think the more they play catch together, the more they learn each other’s body language and what the other one is going to do."

Vanderford said he feels that the starters have emerged as well.

"I think our receiving corps is pretty well set," Vanderford said. "I think we know who our top six or seven guys are going to be in our rotation. We feel pretty comfortable at the quarterback position, and we know we’re going to have a platoon system at running back ... for the most part, we feel like we’re pretty well set."

Vanderford said it looks like Brandon Colquitt will get the nod at quarterback for the Jaguars this fall season.

Vanderford added that he has been very pleased with the play of Collin Ashley, James Kelly, Craig Wenrick and Paul Clark.

At Marcus, the Marauders are not participating in league 7-on-7 play this summer, as coach Bryan Erwin has elected to play in a single, state-qualifying tournament.

"We’re just going to get out and compete," Erwin said. "It gives us the opportunity to get better. If we win all of the games, great, but the main thing is that we are out there having fun and getting better."

Erwin said he opted for the single tournament because he does not believe that 7-on-7 offers an accurate representation of what the team will encounter in the fall season.

"We’re not going to put a ton of emphasis on 7-on-7," Erwin said. "There’s not a lot of correlation between 7-on-7 and the game of football ... but we’ll try to utilize it to get a little better with our quarterbacks, receivers and defensive backs."

Erwin said he wants to use the summer mainly for strength and conditioning.

Marcus will compete in the tournament on June 28 at Arlington Bowie High School.