Red Bay drills into spring practice

By Staff
Kim West, Franklin County Times
RED BAY – Red Bay coach Dale Jeffreys isn't worried right now about whether his team is going to make a return trip to the playoffs this fall.
Instead, Jeffreys is using spring ball to teach.
His football squad started drills Monday, and the Tigers will conclude spring practice May 11.
"We want our team to be the very best it can be," Jeffrey said. "We have had a lot of injuries and tragedy in the past couple of years, and we're focusing this spring on reaching our full potential as a team."
Red Bay, which finished 6-6 last season, will return nine starters on offense and eight on defense this fall, including senior quarterback Anthony Horton.
Horton is being held out of spring practice after tearing his ACL in the Tigers' second-round playoff loss to Fyffe last fall, but he will return June 1.
Sophomore Cody Palmer is taking a majority of the snaps this spring.
"The doctor has released Anthony to play, and he's 90 percent right now," Jeffreys said. "We don't want to take a chance this spring, so we're not practicing him. This is giving our other quarterbacks the opportunity to get a lot of repetitions."
Jeffreys said Red Bay is going to continue to use the spread option offense, but he is adding new wrinkles to the defense, which uses a three-man front and Cover 2 and Cover 3 schemes.
The Tigers' three-hour practices are divided into 15-minute periods of individual drills and running offensive and defensive plays.
"Our coaches want all the players – from the worst player to best player – to reach their full potential," Jeffreys said. "It not all about winning state championships, and we want the them to learn how to succeed on and off the field."