The T.R. Miller Tiger football team capped off their 2012 spring training with their annual Red-White spring game Friday at Brewton Municipal Stadium.
The Tigers practiced eight total days with the game coming being play Friday in front of family, friends and fans.
“The first thing about spring training this year was the weather was outstanding,” T.R. Miller Tiger head coach Jamie Riggs said. “The temperatures were 60 and 70 every day and when it rained, it rained at night. Mainly this spring, we really wanted to find some guys that could block and tackle and get off blocks and make plays. We tried to design practice around that. We did find out some of those things, but had one or two get injured and I did not find anything out about them.”
Riggs said this spring saw some good practices and they were able to get some good things on video.
“We were able to make some decisions from the practices and the game film,” Riggs said. “Some guys have improved and some that played last year are better. Some younger guys answered some questions for us that they could help us out and some answered that they could not help us. Some are not ready yet, but can be. We answered a lot of questions. We still have a long way to go, but I thought spring practice was good.”
The spring roster for the Tigers shows 72 players—including current eighth graders who will be freshmen next year through current juniors who will be seniors next season.
Riggs said the number of players is had out this spring is about average but is a little lower than recent years but attendance was good.
That is about right for the number of players we have because most falls I have 70-75 players but right now, I am running a little less, Riggs said.
“The players put out a good effort and the game was actually good,” Riggs said. “It was competitive. Like most spring games, there were some really good things on offense and defense, then there were some really bad things. We have a lot of technique work left to do, but we did improve over the course of the two-week time period. We usually will have 60 players in the fall. Right now, we have a small number of freshman, but we had some freshman come up and really show us some things from where they were as an eighth grader.”
Although there were injuries and injured players, Riggs said they did not play a factor in the game.
“We had several out,” Riggs said. “The only factor it plays is I would have liked to have got a better look at some of them. I could not because of the injury situation. But it had nothing to do with practice or the game.”
One position that was able to be looked at more due to an injury was the quarterback spot. Starter Kevin Davis was held out from the game due to a previous injury allowing others to play in the game and be looked at.
“I know Kevin can play quarterback, so it allowed for a lot of reps for other guys,” Riggs said. “He has started for us and I know he can play. That did not bother me because I was able to get the other guys some more reps. I thought our other guys did a good job in practice and improved some. They both did OK in the game. They made some mistakes and they have a ways to go, but there were some good things.”
During the eight days of practice and the game, Riggs said he saw some good and bad things.
“I thought that overall, we blocked better on the offensive line,” Riggs said. “We don’t have a lot of experience there and we have some guys there that have not started and played a lot, but we made progress there. I feel good about that. Also, our linebackers are playing better. They improved some, but our tackling the secondary needs to get better. If you don’t tackle well, you give up long runs and passes.”
Now Riggs said they will evaluate videos and players and see where they are and see if players need to be moved around to other positions.
“Usually we think a guy can play this position, but they don’t do to well or one quits,” Riggs said. “We then have to move some around. We have six months to get stronger and faster and to improve physically. We then will have a three-month period in the summer to get better at some things. I think we can have the opportunity to have a very competitive team in the fall if we continue to make use of the next six months.