Local football coaches look back on successful spring

May 23—Seasons may change and school years may end, but in Alabama one thing never stops, and that’s football.

Many schools had spring games last week to close out spring practice for 2024. Among those were three of the more successful local teams from last season: Austin (8-3 in 2022), Hartselle (9-3) and West Morgan (12-1).

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Austin looking to grow quickly ahead of 2024 season

Spring practices and a spring game (against Muscle Shoals) might be more important to Austin than to any other school.

“We have a lot of youth in some spots. Defensively we only have three guys coming back that played significant snaps on Friday nights last year,” said Austin head coach Jeremy Perkins. “It’s hard to make a ton of progress in nine spring practices, but we did have guys that improved. We still have a lot of work to do.”

Austin has some key players returning, such as running back Gavin Fuqua, who rushed for 1,188 yards and 18 touchdowns last year, and Jaxon Potter, who caught 31 passes for 584 yards and six touchdowns.

Also back is quarterback JL Davis. Davis split time evenly with Judd Bailey in 2023, throwing for 1,020 yards and accounting for 10 touchdowns. Now he’s the lone signal caller for the Black Bear offense.

“JL had a very good spring. He’s exactly where we thought he would be, and we’re excited to see him take his game to the next level,” Perkins said.

Perkins said the spring helped outline what the goals are for his team this summer.

“We have to continue to progress and grow quickly,” Perkins said. “We need to figure out the identity of our team and find leadership so we can handle the ups and downs that we’ll face.”

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Hartselle has a new but familiar face leading the sidelines

The spring game against Buckhorn last week for Hartselle marked the first time Bert Newton roamed the sidelines since being named the new head…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/local-football-coaches-look-back-123100528.html

Author : The Decatur Daily, Ala.

Publish date : 2024-05-23 12:31:00

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