Blue Eagle football team buckles down in July

Blue Eagle football picks up in July. “Our fans can’t wait for Midnight Madness,” said Clover High School athletic director Carroll Hester.

Third-year head football coach Chad Smith lauded the Blue Eagle players for their commitment. Smith said offseason preparations began in earnest this week.

“We have the kids for three and a half hours in the mornings for field time and weight room time,” he said “There also will be passing league participation. The first two weeks of July will be a pretty big strain on the kids.”

The third week in July, the Blue Eagles will travel to Aiken for football camp.

“We’re excited. I know the kids are excited, then in August, it’s for real,” Smith said.

Smith compared the Blue Eagle football program to the previous two years at this stage of the offseason.

“Even the kids that might not have been as athletic as the kids we had the first year here are stronger and faster than the first-year kids were for the simple reason they’ve been in a serious weight lifting program,” he said. “I don’t think you can really put a value on that. Not only are the kids stronger and faster, they’ve put a lot of work into it.”

Smith said that isn’t the only change.

“Our kids have expectations now,” said Smith. “They know what we stand for. They know our offense. They know our defense. They should be able to execute at a pretty high level.”

The Blue Eagles have a staple of running backs returning for fall.

“We’ve rotated running backs everywhere we’ve been,” Smith said. “We’ll probably rotate the guys up front this year, too, just to make sure our best people are on the field all of the time.”

This year’s Blue Eagle players have made believers out of Smith and the assistant coaches.

“We might not have as many numbers as some of the other teams in the area, but I’ll go to war with our guys,” said Smith. “I think they are extremely tough and extremely dedicated. I think they are gonna win games this year.”

Smith said the offseason demands for football players have a purpose. “We want our kids to play multiple sports in the month of June, while we concentrate on weight lifting and conditioning,” he said.

“If you are a basketball player, you’re with coach Bailey Jackson in the month of June,” Smith said. “If you are a baseball player, you are with coach Hank Wofford. If you are a wrestler, you’re with coach Mike Fitzgerald.

“These coaches only have open season for the month for of June. I have June and July. I think it would be very selfish of me as a football coach and basically saying ‘I don’t care about the rest of the school if I don’t allow those kids that chance.’”

He added: “Beginning in July, the football kids are mine. We’re a little bit different in doing that. It’s something I learned when I was a head coach in North Carolina.”

Added Smith: “I want my kids to be able to get the full high school experience. I think we do as good a job of that as anybody in the state.”

Smith said he has found a home in with the Blue Eagles.

“I couldn’t ask for a better place to be than in Clover,” he said. “It reminds me more of where I grew up than anywhere I’ve been. It seems the Lord has a plan for each and every person. It seems like we were kind of made for this situation.”

This story was originally published July 6, 2015 at 12:50 PM with the headline "Blue Eagle football team buckles down in July."