Spring Football Begins For The Abilene High Eagles
By: David Robinett
Updated: April 25, 2012
The Abilene High Eagles hit the field today with the start of the 2012 football season in August on their mind. The Eagles have 18 starters back from 2011 when they advanced to the Class 5A Division 2 quarterfinals. Returning starters are always a luxury for a coach, and 18 in kind of silly, but head coach Steve Warren says work still has to be done.
Coach Warren says, "The real challenge is to keep these guys hungry, and keep them wanting to get better. We work all spring long working on fundamentals, and that's really boring, you know to be honest with you. You think that, if you've been a starter and you've been on a team that's won 10 games and a district championship and been to the quarterfinals, you might be a pretty good tackler, or you might be a pretty good blocker, but those are the things that make you win."
Going into the spring, most of the starters are taken care of, but that is not the end of the mission for the Eagles this spring. Coach Warren and the rest of the coaching staff have to find the other guys. The backup players. They are looking for the guys that can fill the void if someone goes down.
Warren added, "No doubt. We've got to find 2-deep. That's a big goal coming out of spring ball. We've gotta feel good about the guy that's starting the game, and the guy that's playing behind him because in our system a lot of guys play. We've got to really hone in on those guys that are roll players and back up players and get them ready to go, as well."
Complacency. The Eagles are the top ranked team in the region over Cooper according to Texas Football. So, the question is, 'How do you keep players that were starters as juniors, and went 4 rounds deep in the playoffs, hungry and excited about doing the work in the spring?'
Warren says, "I am not concerned about it at all because we are going to hammer it on them every single day. We've already been doing that. That is something that is very important to me, so it's a big job of mine to make sure that I don't have a bunch of guys that think they're starters going through the motions. You know all 22 spots are up for grabs. I don't care if you started last year or not. Somebody can beat you out."
Coach Warren says, "The real challenge is to keep these guys hungry, and keep them wanting to get better. We work all spring long working on fundamentals, and that's really boring, you know to be honest with you. You think that, if you've been a starter and you've been on a team that's won 10 games and a district championship and been to the quarterfinals, you might be a pretty good tackler, or you might be a pretty good blocker, but those are the things that make you win."
Going into the spring, most of the starters are taken care of, but that is not the end of the mission for the Eagles this spring. Coach Warren and the rest of the coaching staff have to find the other guys. The backup players. They are looking for the guys that can fill the void if someone goes down.
Warren added, "No doubt. We've got to find 2-deep. That's a big goal coming out of spring ball. We've gotta feel good about the guy that's starting the game, and the guy that's playing behind him because in our system a lot of guys play. We've got to really hone in on those guys that are roll players and back up players and get them ready to go, as well."
Complacency. The Eagles are the top ranked team in the region over Cooper according to Texas Football. So, the question is, 'How do you keep players that were starters as juniors, and went 4 rounds deep in the playoffs, hungry and excited about doing the work in the spring?'
Warren says, "I am not concerned about it at all because we are going to hammer it on them every single day. We've already been doing that. That is something that is very important to me, so it's a big job of mine to make sure that I don't have a bunch of guys that think they're starters going through the motions. You know all 22 spots are up for grabs. I don't care if you started last year or not. Somebody can beat you out."
