VALDOSTA — Valdosta High’s spring football season comes to an end tonight with the annual spring game.
The spring game will start at 7 p.m. at Cleveland Field. The players will begin warming up around 6:30 p.m. Admission is $2 for the general public.
Valdosta head coach Rick Tomberlin, coaching in his first spring game at VHS, says the game will be more of a glorified practice than an actual game.
“We’re not going to have a true game, because we’re not ready to do that just yet,” Tomberlin said. “I think that eventually we’ll do (the spring game) like Valdosta did it in the old days, where it’s more of a true game, with the No. 1 offense going against the No. 2 defense, and No. 1 defense going against the No. 2 offense. Right now, though, we’ve got a brand new offense, a brand new defense, new coaches, a lot of new faces. So I think the best thing for our football team is not to rush in and try to play a football game, but to take it real slow, and try to learn the basics.”
The spring game will begin with players going through the Oklahoma drill, a high-intensity, hard-hitting drill. Then the freshman team will take the field, followed by the No. 1 offense facing the “best of the rest” defense. Then the junior varsity (“the young guns,” as Tomberlin calls them) will play. Then the No. 1 defense will face the reserves on offense. There will be no special teams played.
A lot of players will play both offense and defense tonight. Valdosta has been playing a lot of players both ways this spring.
Though he doesn’t feel ready to turn his players loose in a game, Tomberlin is still pleased with much of what he’s seen from his team so far.
“We’ve had nine real intense, physical days,” Tomberlin said. “We’ve improved vastly every day. I like their attitudes. There are three things they’ll do: They’ll work, they’ll hit, and they’ll run. Our execution isn’t great right now, but we’re getting better.”
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There have been some changes in Valdosta’s varsity coaching staff. Former offensive coordinator Welton Coffey has left to take the same position at Camden County, while former defensive coordinator Jeff Rolson is now the head coach at Kissimmee (Fla.) Osceola.
The new defensive coordinator is Jeff Arnette, a former head coach at Oconee County and Elbert County. The new offensive coordinator is Michael Pollack, a former Tomberlin assistant at Washington County and the head coach at Cook from 2001-2002.
Tomberlin will coach the quarterbacks. Pollack will coach running backs. Longtime Valdosta assistant Tim Horton will coach receivers, as well as being in charge of equipment and video. Ashley Henderson will remain the offensive line coach, focusing primarily on centers and guards. New assistant John Thompson, hired away from Gainesville High, will coach tackles, tight ends and the kicking game.
On defense, Arnette will coach linebackers. Longtime Valdosta assistant Al Akins will coach defensive ends, while former Valdosta player Rick Thomas will coach defensive tackles. Keith Middleton, another longtime assistant, will return to coaching the secondary, primarily the cornerbacks, and Keith McConnehead will coach the safeties. Thomas and McConnehead have coached at the lower levels for several seasons.
“I’ve been real pleased with the coaching staff. They’ve taken a difficult situation and worked on it,” Tomberlin said.
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