OPENING DAY: Rosewood's youngsters will experience learning curve

By Ben Coley
Published in Sports on August 2, 2016 1:48 PM

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bcoley@newsargus.com

During a light, non-contact scrimmage, a Rosewood lineman used a blue pad to aggressively pop senior quarterback Cameron Helt.

Helt fell to the ground. But he immediately sprung up and excitedly tapped his teammate on the helmet, showing his appreciation for the solid hit.

The first practice of the season was well underway Monday.

For Eagles' head coach Robert Britt, practice went exactly as he expected it to -- upperclassmen stepping up and a learning curve for those new to the program.

"Everything is a building block," Britt said. "We've got older guys out here that know the system, and we expect them to be leaders. And I thought they did a good job. We've got younger guys who are still getting used to a different speed of the game and different cues."

Most of the activities were typical of a first day -- grinding through the scrimmage, learning how to wrap up and polishing skills on the defensive end.

By the end of the week, Britt said he expects his younger players to learn the basics of the playbook. He wants his older crowd to be close to game speed.

"With the younger guys, we still want to install our offense," Britt said. "We want them to at least have an understanding of it and understand our verbiage. With the older guys, we expect them to be better fundamentally. We expect them to be quicker."

The Eagles concluded practice with more conditioning. It was an aspect that was much needed, according to Helt.

"I believe that I was out of condition," said Helt with a slight chuckle. "We just now started picking it up, and I feel a lot better."

Before the season starts, Helt said he is working on evaluating the field, which includes seeing where the defensive backs are positioned and spreading the ball to his entire receiving corps. The signal caller believes there is plenty of talent to go around.

And that talent will undoubtedly be led by the senior leadership that Britt wants to see.

"I feel pretty confident that we'll do good this season," Helt said. "We have a lot of skilled guys that if we can get them the ball, I believe they can do something great with it."

Rosewood will participate in a multi-team jamboree Aug. 10 at North Lenoir that also includes Bunn, Topsail and Midway. The scrimmages begin at 6 p.m.