By default, Jason Johnson’s spring practice sessions have turned into a camp full of big, sweaty linemen.
Not that Johnson, who enters his second year as Tylertown’s football coach, minds coaching in the trenches, he’d just rather have his full arsenal of players on hand.
Approximately one-third of Tylertown’s players are prepping for Monday’s Class 4A track and field state championships in Pearl. Naturally, most of the athletes are Johnson’s skill position players, so the linemen are getting the bulk of the work.
“We’ve joked around and called our spring training a linemen camp because we just have offensive linemen and defensive linemen,” Johnson said.
It works out well for Tylertown because the added time is probably needed. The Chiefs lose four starting offensive linemen from the 2012 squad, including Joe Dillon, who will move to tight end, along with three of the four starters on the defensive line. In total, Tylertown must replace 16 starters, eight on each side of the ball.
Linemen are vital in Tylertown’s run-heavy offensive attack. The Chiefs had a veteran offensive line in 2011 but retooled nicely as they averaged 347.9 rushing yards per game in 2012.
The group may not have the most experience, but they make up for that with their passion.
“This might be the most eager and coachable kids I’ve had,” Johnson said. “What they lack in their youth, they are very mature kids and very eager to learn. They are wise beyond their years.”
Parklane has been in a similar predicament with several skill players missing practice because of baseball season. When the Pioneers were eliminated Saturday by Madison-Ridgeland Academy, second-year coach Mike Powell welcomed back Dan Gill, Carr Young, Logan Yawn and Cole Smith, among others.
Although Powell has had returning starting quarterback Brady Lea at the helm, the offensive and defensive line has ruled the practice plans, with an emphasis on running the football.
As a former offensive lineman himself, Powell, like Johnson, is working on perfecting the offensive line.
First and foremost, the Pioneers need to replace offensive lineman Tyler Stutzman, who will play at Southwest Mississippi Community College in the fall.
Parklane runs the majority of its offensive plays using a spread-based, zone-read attack, so the calls and reads are something that come with time.
Powell and his staff has spent time with returning players who didn’t see much game action in 2012 and those moving up from junior high.
“It’s going to make us better and let us know are they someone we can sub in with or are they a guy ready to take over a starting slot,” Powell said.
At South Pike, the only experienced group coach Michael Andrews had at his disposal in 2012 was the offensive line.
And just when South Pike, which finished the season at 1-9, started to find a rhythm with the offense, Andrews must now develop another group of linemen.
Jaswan Jackson, Chris Brumfield and Keander Bullock were key members for South Pike last season as seniors and leave a major void for a team that struggled in every facet of the game.
“We will be a young team and have a young offensive line,” Andrews said. “Everything we’re doing is a refresher of what we taught last year.”
South Pike is deep at the skill positions, but it learned the hard way that athletes are only as good as the players blocking for them.
