Numbers up for Faith Academy football
MARBLE FALLS — As the Faith Academy football team enjoyed its second day in pads Friday, head football coach Russ Roberts looked happy.
"Our talent level is real up and down. We have guys with excellent talent level, we have guys who aren’t quite as good," he said. "But what I am seeing is great effort. And as long as we continue to have the effort we’re having right now, we’ll be able to close the gap on talent level pretty quick. That is one of the pleasures of (Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools) ball. The effort is so good, and it’s fun to coach them because they’re eager to learn and get better."
There is another reason for Roberts to be happy. He has 18 players suited up with two more expected very soon.
"Real pleased, pleased with the numbers," Roberts said. "That is the most we have ever had at Faith, so I am just absolutely thrilled with it."
Jake Diamond, Hanner Shipley and Zachary Haydon are competing for the starting quarterback position. Roberts said coaches still are evaluating the trio, and they plan to use most of this month to determine who gets to start.
But there was no hiding the Flames’ enthusiasm when it came to hitting drills.
Coaches had three-on-three drills with a ball carrier in the backfield charged with looking for the hole and running through it.
There was some tackling and a lot of yelling.
"When you put on the pads this time of year, they want every drill to be a hitting drill." Roberts said. "Because they waited for nine months. I don’t want them doing a lot of hitting until I feel comfortable that they’re ready for it. So, we don’t let them do a lot of live tackling. That last drill was the only real live drill we did all day. Because I want to feel comfortable that they are ready for a live hitting drill before I put them into it."
The Flames will practice 8 a.m. Monday, Roberts said.
He plans to call plenty of competition drills, and he will encourage the players to show coaches what they learned during the week.
"Our talent level looks really good," Roberts said. "It is just a matter now of putting the pieces in the right places. But the good thing is, I have lots of pieces. When you have lots of holes and not many pieces, it gets scary. But we have holes to fill and pieces to fill them with. It is just a matter of finding the right guys."
Faith won’t have a scrimmage on its home field. The Flames will travel at a time to be determined Aug. 13 to Round Rock Christian. Their last scrimmage will be Aug. 18 at Cherokee.
jfierro@thepicayune.com