Spring football: Rocky Bayou takes first steps

By TRAVIS DOWNEY

travisd@nwfdailynews.com

NICEVILLE - Rocky Bayou Christian School's fledgling football program took its first steps on Friday.

To be more precise, the school's first-ever football team took its first four steps - as the 38 young men that participated in the Knights' inaugural spring practice spent much of the abbreviated workout learning how to get into and out of a three-point stance.

For most, like rising senior Ben Donahue, Friday's simple walk-thru was their first true encounter with the sport they grew up wanting to play.

"It was exciting," Donahue said. "I've always wanted to play football but I've never been able to. I'm just excited."

That excitement was evident throughout Rocky Bayou's first day of football, as head coach John Reaves walked off the Knights' practice field pointing not to how accurately his players executed their drills, but instead to the manner in which they attacked each and every task that was asked of them.

"I've never been in this situation before of when I take a 17-year-old boy and say, ‘Get in a three-point stance' and he looks at me like I'm asking him to fly across the sky," Reaves said. "But I saw an eagerness. I saw when I told them to do something, it was done.

"Now they might not know exactly how to get in a three-point stance, but when I say ‘Go to coach' or  ‘Come to me', they don't walk and they don't jog - they sprint there."

While a large portion of the team spent much of the practice working on their footwork and learning how to break out of a stance, Reaves pulled several players to the side field in hopes of finding one or two kickers.

Again, Reaves came away pleased.

"We were able to find two or three good kickers," Reaves said.

Making Reaves' situation more complex is the lack of an athletic period in his players' class schedule, making practices like Friday's even more crucial as he and the Knights' staff work to put players in the proper position.

"I don't see these kids during the day," Reaves said. "I see some of them in the weightlifting class that we have but the majority of them I don't.

"I've been at schools where we did not have an athletic period and right now, we don't, but it's something that we are working toward and very well may have next year. I think you have to have that."

As for the more immediate future, the Knights will return to the practice fields on Monday, and while players' positions and overall grasp of the sport remain less than certain, Reaves came away from Friday's drills sure of one thing regarding his - and the school's - new team.

"We've got the critical components for success here in intelligence, coachability and a willingness to learn," Reaves said. "I think we're going to do alright."