By Kyle Roberts
The Ruston High Bearcats are midway through the final week of the summer without a Friday opponent and are preparing for
“I think we’re getting some things accomplished,” Ruston head coach Jerrod Baugh said. “There’s always a lot of areas to improve on; I think we’re continuing to make progress in a lot of different areas.”
Baugh offered his take on all three facets of the Bearcats’ team as of Wednesday of this week.
Offense
“Those guys continue to improve. The areas where we don’t have a lot experience, we just need to get them the snaps that they need to do the things they’re going to do. The experience we bring back defensively gives (the offense) a really good opportunity to work against guys that are as good as anybody they’re going to play during the season, regardless of who it is we are playing.
“It gives us a good idea of the game speed and the physicality and all the things that come with the experience those guys have. It gives our offense the chance to practice against really good competition everyday when we get out there. I think we’re seeing a lot of really good development and improvement during the week in the practice we have due to the guys we are practicing against.”
Defense
“Bringing so much experience back always lends itself to being where you can progress really quickly through the things that you want to install. They’re already familiar with the base of things we do. We have seen those guys come out and they are familiar with it, so you can move on to the next thing. It allows you quick movement through your installation process.
“We’ve had some guys out due to sickness and some injuries for one reason or another. That has allowed us to get a look at some different looks at some different guys to see if they are going to be able to give us some valuable snaps during the ball game if they can come in and relieve somebody in certain situations.
Special Teams
“I think we’re pretty good. (Will) Fendley is going to hold down the punting. And he’ll probably do some of the kicking, as well. Jack Elliott, who did a lot of kicking for us in junior varsity last year is going to take on some of the kicking duties, particularly the PAT’s and field goals.
“It’s a work in progress as we move along. There’s also a freshman, Joaquin Ramos, that will be a really good kicker for us in the future. It’s like a lot of areas for us; we’ve got to continue to improve, but special teams is going to be a really good part of our team.”
