CONCORD, N.C. -- It’s mere hours away.
Early Monday morning, roughly half of Cabarrus County’s high school football teams will be taking the field for their first official days of practice for the 2017 season.
By tomorrow evening, the others will be out there, doing all the things we’re used to seeing this time of year – pushing sleds, struggling to learn formations and making mad dashes for water during breaks.
All the while, the coaches – almost all of them sporting their wide-brimmed, floppy hats and what I call Cool Coaches Shades – are going hoarse from all the barking and growling throughout the day.
It’s a beautiful thing.
It’s a rite of passage that followers of this area’s football programs should never get tired of.
Mount Pleasant is the first to get going, as the Mike Johns-led program rolls out at 7 a.m. Monday. Johns is sort of the dean of current Cabarrus County coaches, as he’s embarking on his 19th season leading the Tigers.
Talk about a true passion.
The native Texan still has vigor, and his love for leading young Mount Pleasant men shines through, even though none of his three sons play for the Tigers anymore.
And much like it was when the great E.Z. Smith, the only coach with more than 200 career victories in Cabarrus County, was traipsing the sidelines at Concord High, Johns has become the face of his program.
It just seems right that Johns be out there Monday morning with his hat on, too, anxious to take the Tigers on another memorable run.
This is the time of year, of course, when everyone is optimistic, everybody’s undefeated.
This upcoming season of Cabarrus football should have football fans excited. Like, really excited.
The South Piedmont 3A now is a six-team, all-Cabarrus league. Perennial powerhouse A.L. Brown returns to the SPC after four productive years at the Class 4A level under coach Mike Newsome. The Wonders are hungry to re-stake their claim at the level that saw them garner so much championship success, and they certainly have the goods to do it this year.
So A.L. Brown fans – and I know you will be out there as the football squad gets going in the baseball stadium’s outfield – know that you’ll be looking at something special in the making Monday morning.
Of course, other teams in the SPC will have something to say about how the season winds up. They aren’t planning on cowering just because the Wonders are back.
A.L. Brown’s archrival, Concord High, will be in the mix, even though some in town are nervously wondering if the Spiders have what it takes to threaten. Then again, that, too, seems to be an annual rite of passage for Spider fans.
And that baffles me.
But that’s something for me to gripe about another day. Today, it’s about the future, a 2017 season that I believe will be a good one for the Spiders, even though they’re replacing a 6-foot-5 quarterback, Jacob Irby, who’s now playing college football and a defensive back/receiver, Hamsah Nasirildeen, that many believe is among the greatest athletes to have ever walked the Concord hallways.
Irby’s at Lenoir-Rhyne and Nasirildeen is at Florida State. Fortunately, the Spiders still have great talent, starting with senior defensive lineman Rick Sandidge, who teams from each of the Power 5 conferences are courting heavily. Plus, there’s coach Glen Padgett, one of only seven Cabarrus coaches ever to win 100 games. Johns of Mount Pleasant is the only other active coach on that list.
But Jay M. Robinson, the reigning SPC champion, isn’t readily taking a backseat to A.L. Brown or Concord. And you know Bulldogs coach Joe Glass, the man who took this program from basement-dweller to titlist in three short seasons, will be pushing them to be even better when they get going Monday at 5:30 p.m.
“This is the group that I started with, and I’m definitely excited to see all the work these kids and coaches have put in to turn this program around,” said Glass, who also lost a starting quarterback in Josh Dale (UNC Pembroke).
“This group of seniors is special to me, and I’m ready to get out there with them.”
Watch for some special stuff this season in rushing tandem Dawson Williams and Que Reid.
There’s also a great deal of excitement at Central Cabarrus, which will hit the practice field tomorrow morning at 8:30 under the guidance of a new coach, Kenneth McClamrock, who most recently was the head man at East Rowan.
McClamrock, also a former Concord assistant, inherits a team that went 5-7 under Donnie Kiefer last year but also was the team that ended Concord’s 29-game SPC winning streak and made the state playoffs. Additionally, McClamrock has a gem in versatile junior Derek Boykins, who’s been on college scouts’ radars for a few years now.
Another team that will make some moves this year? The Northwest Cabarrus Trojans.
With coach Brandon Gentry in his second season, Northwest has talent. Granted, it’s mostly young talent, but a lot of those kids got valuable experience last season as the Trojans fought through a 2-9 campaign. Honestly, one of the biggest accomplishments Gentry’s made thus far is keeping that young talent from transferring to other county schools, which has traditionally been a problem for the Trojans.
But there’s some great older talent at Northwest, too. Expect big seasons from lineman Joe Camara and tight end/defensive end Ben Coates III. Both have generated Division I recruiting interest.
Gentry will be hot when his team begins workouts tomorrow at 6 p.m., but he’ll also be smiling.
“I’m looking forward to it, and the kids are already excited,” Gentry said. “I’m ready to get this thing started, man.”
Cox Mill also is poised to take a big step forward coming off a 3-8 season. Coach Craig Stewart’s squad put together an inspiring winning streak last year before facing three of the SPC’s best teams – Concord, Jay M. Robinson and Concord – over the final five weeks.
The one Cabarrus team that left the SPC because of state realignment is Hickory Ridge, which moves to Class 4A. The Ragin’ Bulls also might be Cabarrus County’s best team.
Actually, they’re one of best teams in the greater Charlotte region, if not the state. Seriously.
Second-year coach Jason Seidel has some outright studs returning from a club that won a school-record 12 games. The biggest name is Jarett Garner, the receiver who committed to Duke. But several great players will step on the practice field with him tomorrow, including recent Charlotte 49ers’ commit Cal Wallerstedt or powerful running back Jeremiah Boyd.
If you can get to a Bulls’ game, great. Do it. But those seats will be difficult to get this season, so get to The Ridge early. If you can’t do that, try to catch a few minutes of practice.
The excitement for every Cabarrus team begins in the morning.
Proud dads in fold-up chairs, watching anxiously from behind the fences, reliving their own football days like Al Bundy. The sounds of helmets snapping on as kids leave the locker room, shoulder pads flapping during wind sprints.
Y’all ready for some preseason football?
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