Blue Devils hitting weights for summer

Published 4:13 pm Monday, June 6, 2011

The Escambia County Blue Devils are in the second week of summer workouts.|Photo by Chandler Myers

School may be out, but the Blue Devils football players at Escambia County High School are still working as they attend summer workouts to prepare for the 2011 season, which is just under three months away.

The Blue Devils are in their second week of summer workouts with players showing up every morning to improve their abilities as individuals and as a team.

As work progresses through the second week of workouts, the Blue Devils coaching staff is looking for improvement across the board and not just of the physical nature.

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Blue Devils head coach Mark Heaton said one of the biggest goals on his mind is the attendance rate of his players to the workouts.

“One thing that will be a success for us is getting close to or hitting 100 percent in participation,” he said. “This year, the number of players that are missing workouts has decreased tremendously with only a few players missing more than one day. Only a few have missed three days and those guys are eighth graders. Our participation is already tremendously improved from last summer.”

As the Blue Devils program moves deeper and deeper into summer workouts, Heaton and his coaching staff want the team’s work ethic to evolve.

Heaton said the intensity of the workouts needs to get stronger.

“The main thing we are trying to establish is a little more intensity in our work ethic,” he said. “We have to get acclimated to the heat, which is one thing that we are trying to do with our guys slowly, so that when fall practice comes we are at the level we need to be at to be competitive.”

The message that the coaching staff pushes through to their players is the word progression.

Heaton said its good for the players to know what needs to be worked on, so they are able to see the progress they make during the summer.

“We try and progress through our workouts and conditioning,” he said. “Each week, we tell the guys what we are working on and where we are trying to get better. We want them to see that progression, and they do with our workout system. That helps them move forward and like they have accomplished their goals.”

With the Blue Devils in their second week of workouts, some things have been set, while others are still being learned.

Heaton said the upcoming workouts will focus on what the players need to work for 7-on-7s.

“We have already set our weightlifting drills and have gone through our conditioning drills,” he said. “By Thursday, we will have implemented our defensive and offensive coverages for the passing game, so we are prepared for 7-on-7s in June and July.