Warriors shift focus to defense on Day 3

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on August 4, 2014 1:48 PM

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rcoggins@newsargus.com

Skill athletes return.

Experienced linemen are scarce.

It's become a common dilemma for sixth-year Eastern Wayne head varsity football coach Guy "Bubba" Williams. Once again he finds himself looking for a solid, consistent core of trench workers who can control the line of scrimmage.

He expects to find some answers in the coming days.

After devoting the first two practices to installing offensive schemes, Williams and his staff shifted focus to defense this morning. The Warriors donned shoulder pads and spent time working on tackling techniques on the sled.

"We've got more numbers, we just have no proven (linemen)," Williams said. "We've got two kids back (Andre Smith, Ramone Rowe) who played their sophomore seasons on varsity and didn't come out last year for whatever reason. We've had 33 varsity kids and right at 30 JV kids, which is a decent turnout for us -- average.

"Hopefully we'll pick up some more JV kids and maybe a couple of offensive linemen who move in from somewhere who are studs and we'll be OK."

Body-to-body contact isn't allowed until Thursday.

"That's when we'll see what we've got," Williams said.

Eastern Wayne is coming off of its most-successful season in program history. The Warriors posted an 11-win campaign and lost to eventual state champion Havelock in the eastern 3-A regional final in 2013.

Williams welcomes back 17 starters. However, he must develop a quarterback since all-Eastern Carolina Conference performer Mitch Pike moved in the offseason. Pike guided Eastern Wayne to 15 wins -- the most by any quarterback during Williams' tenure on the sideline.

Ricky Steiner, Pike's backup, informed coaches he would not return, but then appeared for preseason workouts in June. By then, Williams had already decided to bump running back KK Best and Robert Gonzalez, who directed the JV last season, into the signal-calling role.

Steiner will handle slot receiver and safety duties.

"At that point in time, we had already made the transition so we stuck with it," Williams said. "We decided we wanted to let our quarterback and offensive line grow up at the same time. We've got to develop a passing game and get our reads right.

"We're starting to pick up who to block and where, trying to fill the holes (on the line). Only time will tell."