The Carroll Academy Rebels opened up spring football practice this week.
Coach Bo Milton said the Rebels will spend the week in shorts and shoulder pads working on fundamentals.
“We will do a lot of installs this week and lot of fundamentals,” Milton said. “We still have some guys involved in track so we aren’t going to be doing a lot of contact this week. We are just making sure we remember where we left off. We have to replace a few starters here and there but have a good group coming back.”
Milton said the Rebels bring back seven starters on offense and seven on defense. One major loss is senior Jeb Beck, who led the Rebels in rushing and was the leading tackler on defense.
“We’ve got a lot of kids coming back,” Milton said. “We’ve got our quarterback, a tailback who ran for 800 yards and three of the five starting linemen, along with a tight end and wide receiver so we feel good about what we have coming back.
Milton said he also moves up a solid junior high class that has won three straight conference championships.
The Rebels will take on Winston Academy and Magnolia Heights in a scrimmage next Friday at Winston.
Milton said that senior lineman Logan Hodges recently tried out at Delta State and received an offer to be a walk-on for the Statesmen.
“That’s really exciting for our program,” Milton said. “He went and tried out and they asked him to walk on. They only have like 36 scholarships and 85 players so they have a lot of partials and a lot of walk-ons who pay their own way. He weighs about 265 but can carry more weight. He moves very well for his size. He’s excited about the opportunity.”
