CRESTVIEW — Rain greeted the Crestview High School football team Wednesday as the Bulldogs opened spring practice under new head coach Tim Hatten.
Hatten said the first day of practice was about what he expected, as the Bulldogs are learning how he wants things done and he is trying to fit his team together.
“We’ve got a long ways to go,” he said. “But you’ve got to remember they are doing something they are not accustomed to doing. And me, as a coach, I’m trying to figure what they can and cannot do.
“Right now, we (the coaches) are trying to make sure they (the players) understand where they are supposed to be. For the first few days they are not really going to know how to practice.”
As Hatten promised, Wednesday’s practice lasted two hours and was conducted at a fast pace as players and coaches quickly moved from one drill to the next.
After two hours of constant movement Hatten called the team together to take care of some team business and the players went to the locker room. There were no wind sprints or post-practice conditioning drills that are common with most coaches.
Hatten’s philosophy is by practicing fast and being in constant motion the conditioning will take care of itself. That’s not to say the players won’t run and condition during the summer, but this spring Hatten wants to spend as much practice time working on the nuts and bolts of football.
Even as Hatten is trying to figure out who some of the players are there were some that didn’t disappoint him in his first live look.
“Obviously, the guys I think are pretty good players, are pretty good players,” he said referring to Emmanuel Reed and Jaylynne Robinson. “They are pretty easy to find out there.”
A large part of the spring will be spent trying to get the new offense from the thinking process for the players to reaction process.
“With us we’ve got be real cognitive and make sure we are thinking,” Hatten said. “Once that thinking becomes second nature your aggressiveness comes out on offense.
“You can’t do a lot of thinking, it has to be reactive, but it’s a process and we will get there.”
Randy Dickson is the Crestview News Bulletin’s sports editor. Email him at randyd@crestviewbulletin.com, tweet him @BigRandle, or call 682-6524.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Bulldogs take first steps under Hatten