Winona will complete three weeks of spring football practice Thursday. The Tigers will not have a spring game or jamboree.
“Everything has been going as well as it can,” said Coach Joey Tompkins.
The Tigers are coming off a surprise run to the 2A state championship, finishing with an 11-4 record following a loss to Taylorsville in the title game at the University of Mississippi's Vaught-Hemingway Stadium.
Several key players missed the first two weeks of practice while competing on the track team that finished third at the 2A state meet. One of those players is sophomore Andarius Coffey. He is the heir apparent to JaTyler Moore at quarterback. Moore graduates after a senior year when he passed for 2,021 yards and 28 touchdowns and ran for 795 yards and 14 TDs.
In Coffey's absence from practice, freshman Robert McMath took most of the snaps.
“We lost a three-year starter. Anytime you do that, he's tough to replace. We do have a guy with experience,” Tompkins said, referring to Coffey.
The change could result in some changes in the offense that was built around Moore. “A lot of the stuff we do we will continue to do,” Tompkins said.
“JaTyler's strong point was that he was a really, really accurate passer. At this point, Andarius is not that accurate. But Andarius is a really good runner.”
