By Kyle Roberts
RUSTON, La. — You’d be hard-pressed to a find a high school football coach who loves the month of July.
Sure, your first thought may be to blame the intense heat, and while you’d be partially right, it’s really the choppiness of the month for Ruston High Head Coach Jerrod Baugh between camps, family reunions, vacations and all things summer.
“I’ve been a lot of places, but Ruston is the most beach-going town I’ve ever lived in,” Baugh said jokingly. “But that’s part of what July is for. The kids need that kind of break, even if it’s disruptive to us coaches. By the middle of June, it all starts to feel like work for them; it gets a little monotonous. At that point, as a kid, they can’t see the end of things, but July seems to freshen them up.”
Baugh said the primary focus this past month in workouts has been to take the conditioning they’ve worked on in June with their strength training and move it into drills that will lead to more explosiveness and preparedness for game time.
And while noting parts of the summer have been inconsistent for the squad, Baugh lauded the efforts of a few key players – namely senior running backs Lander Smith and Jeremiah Freeman along with junior defensive back Jayden Anding.
“Lander has had a really good summer,” Baugh said. “He’s one that’s really internalized that this will be his last go-round. If he never played another down of football, then he has already had a great career by going to the Super Dome for three straight years and winning a championship. But he’s really wanting to take advantage of his senior year and try to make it the best that he can.
“Jeremiah has had a really good summer for us, too. He’s been a little disappointed in how his role has been coming along these last few years. And he knows that this is the last go-round, too, and he’s worked really hard. Jayden knows what his expectations are, and he had a really good role model to look up to (in brother Aidan Anding, who is now at LSU). He may have felt overshadowed by big brother before, but he wants to make his own way now and do his own thing.”
And now with July in the rearview, it’s now time for the structure that August and the Fall Camp will bring for the squad: starting the week of Aug. 11, practice will start to feel more consistent and routine, leading up to the new 2025 season for the Gridiron ‘Cats.
Asked about the depth chart, Baugh said the coaches are still in the process of evaluating each position to make sure the best 11 players are on the field at any given time.
“We’re still in the middle of those things right now — finding out who the best players are and who the best groups are to be playing,” Baugh said. “There’s still some shuffling that will take place, whether that’s from injuries or seeing how different players are responding to new roles. Whenever you find your best 11, you have to take their best attributes and try to make sure that you’re putting that forward and not covering up. Coaches are constantly having to evaluate all of those things and see where we are. And we’re going to try to have that ironed out before we start looking at other opponents (once the season gets going).”
The Bearcats will have a few more days to go during the “acclimation” portion of the summer, where they’ll be practicing in half-shell (shoulder pads but no leg pads) and helmets to get ready for the grind of a hot Louisiana football season.
And, almost just as quickly, it will be time for the annual summer scrimmage against Byrd on Thursday, August 21, at James Field at Hoss Garrett Stadium.
Next week, Ruston High reserved seating tickets will be available for purchase to the general public.
