James Kenan dons pads in practice

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on August 6, 2013 1:47 PM

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WARSAW -- James Kenan's players finally put on the pads Monday evening.

Head varsity coach Ken Avent Jr. and his staff got a closer look at the team.

"Everything has been good," Avent Jr. said. "Of course, we haven't done much because we've had nothing but helmets on (the first three days). Tonight, we'll get into more stuff because we can put the pads on.

"Really, the varsity has been here all summer, so it's a matter of reviewing what we've been doing and that's the big thing right now."

More than 70 prospective players -- varsity and JV combined -- have reported to practice daily since last week. Avent Jr. said more JV players are in camp than he anticipated and said the varsity numbers were "about right."

Kenan finished 13-1 last year and lost to Southwest Onslow in the N.C. High School Athletic Association Class 1-AA (large-school) eastern championship game. The core of that team returns, including Marcelias Sutton, who has verbally committed to the N.C. State.

"Our seniors have done a good job and that's a carryover from the summer," said Avent Jr., who has an abundance of seniors on the team.

The Tigers are working on conditioning and preparing for Saturday's home scrimmage against Big East 3-A member Wilson Fike. They'll scrimmage Fayetteville Douglas Byrd next Wednesday and participate in Fike's jamboree on Aug. 16.

"We will find out more this weekend when we scrimmage," Avent Jr. said. "We're waiting on seeing what happens with the linemen. That's something we've got to figure out. We have a long way to go there."