It was a very pleasing week of practice for veteran Noxapater head football coach Casey Orr.
“I thought it went really well,” he said of the Tigers first week of practice. “I was pleased with the engagement of the guys with what we were doing.”
He was particularly pleased with the nine seniors the Tigers have on their roster this year.
“We have a really good senior class and their leadership spoke for us real well last week. At least five of them have started for me since the ninth grade.”
While seniors are great to have, Orr says where you have them is also important. “A lot of those seniors are linemen and their ability to adjust to different fronts they face on the fly is very important. They don’t have to come back to the sidelines as much and ask questions. They can sort those things out mid-drive and fix things before they go sideways.”
The Tigers will get in some game action on Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m. when they travel to East Mississippi Community College in Scooba to take on East Union as part of the New Hope Fall Football Jamboree.
“It will be good to get into some game conditions,” Orr said. “You will find our what you need to work on and where you are lacking.”
He also said it was important to find out about your team depth. “The jamboree is a bigger deal for the young guys than the junior and seniors who have been there before. You can get some guys some reps who aren’t starters so they can get that experience.”
Noxapater is set to open the regular season on Friday, Aug. 23 when they travel to Butler, Ala. to take on Choctaw County High School then follow that up with a trip to Eupora the following week.
The first home game for the Tigers will be Sept. 6 against Starkville Academy.
