Passing leagues armed and throwing 6/25/2009 12:20 AM
By MAC BANKS Staff Writer
For some high schools, football season starts in the early part of summer instead of the later months.
Several local high schools such as South Aiken High School, North Augusta High School, Midland Valley High School and Williston-Elko High School run a seven-on-seven passing league during June and early July to help prepare players for the real action come August.
"This gives the kids a chance to be competitive," said South Aiken head coach Robert Wrightenberry. "They get tired of lifting weights and running."
South Aiken has already had three seven-on-seven passing league events and will have three more before wrapping them up for the remainder of the summer before practice starts in late July.
The South Carolina High School League allows up to 10 seven-on-seven practices. Wrightenberry said his T-Breds squad has been doing them for the past three years.
The passing leagues give opportunities for younger players on the JV squads to get some reps in as well.
"The first time we did it this year, we had a bunch of younger kids," Wrightenberry said.
With temperatures in the low to mid-90s, players aren't decked out in full football gear, wearing only helmets and no pads as tackling isn't involved. The passing leagues allow teams to go up against other squads they may face during the regular season to give each other an early preview of what the other one has.
"It's good conditioning-wise for the receivers," said North Augusta head coach Dan Pippin. "You aren't going to get those reps otherwise."
Pippin said with 140 kids in his program now between the varsity, JV and B-teams, the practices help build camaraderie among the players.
"It comes down to being together," he said. "We can work on a bunch of little things."
Pippin said that when the varsity team is around, they tend to get a lot of attention, so by having JV and B-teams participate in the passing leagues, it helps the future of the school's program.
"They are the focus of all our attention," he said.
For some schools like South Aiken, it helps backup quarterbacks who may not get a lot of playing time during the season. The T-Breds starting quarterback Tanner Hawley currently can't participate in the passing leagues after getting hurt playing travel baseball.
"His elbow is fine, but his pinky finger ain't got a lot of feeling in it," Wrightenberry said.
Other high school teams, like Aiken High, don't go with a passing league during the summer. Not because they can't, but they choose to allow their ground game do the majority of their talking during the season.
"What Aiken has been doing with the Wing-T has been pretty successful," Pippin said. "They really don't need to."
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