The start of football season is five weeks away and the Warren County High School football team is working hard to get ready for kickoff in DeKalb County Aug. 17.
The Pioneers traveled to Cookeville Tuesday for 7-on-7 scrimmages as over 25 teams from Tennessee showed up in Putnam County.
Warren County got a warm-up scrimmage against its first regular season opponent when the Pioneers played the Tigers in a 7-on-7 scrimmage. Warren County also worked out against Mt. Juliet, Franklin County, Gallatin and Upperman.
Defensive coordinator and assistant head coach Chris Johnson assumed a leadership role Tuesday as head coach Tommy Johnson was in Africa for the final step of his adoption process.
Chris Johnson thought the workouts went well as the Pioneers made strides in their first action against opponents in two months.
“I thought we played fairly decent,” said Johnson. “We have guys still developing, but we competed well.”
With no offensive line to run behind during the scrimmages, the Pioneers worked exclusively on their air attack.
Rising junior Hunter Mullican took the majority of the reps at quarterback, while freshman Christian Wilkinson mixed in some.
Offensive coordinator Pedro Holiday was impressed with the play of Mullican and his top three playmakers on the outside, receivers Lee Carden, D’Andre League and Mitchell Ashford.
“Coming off the dead period, we didn’t expect it to be top notch from the start,” said Holiday. “We got better during the second part of the day and our playmakers were a bright spot.”
“We still have a lot of work to do, but we can build off the bright spots.”
Defensively, coach Johnson is still looking for consistent play from the secondary. Though the defense returns the majority of last year’s starters, the Pioneers are mixing in new people at safety.
Coach Johnson sees room for improvement for his defense as the players get more aggressive in making plays.
“I think guys showed some improvement, but also showed some immaturity at the position,” said Johnson. “We still have to improve at making plays when the ball is in the air.”
While the skill-position players scrimmaged, the offensive line worked in challenges that tested the group’s speed and strength.
Under the direction of new line coach Greg Cotten, the Pioneers placed 10th out of 25 teams in the linemen challenge.
The Pioneers went through a series of drills, including an obstacle course, 225-pound bench press test, tug-of-war and tire-flip relays.
Without projected starters Jacob Roller and Gilly Ortiz, the Pioneers were shorthanded during the competition. Coach Cotten counted on a handful of young players to help and his overall impression was positive.
“I thought we competed well,” said Cotten. “Our speed helped us. I think the experience was good to get us ready for what we need to do in the month before the season starts.”
In five weeks, the Pioneers will start the season on the road against the DeKalb County Tigers. Warren County won 19-16 two years ago in Smithville, but the Tigers returned the favor last year by defeating the Pioneers 26-7 at Nunley Stadium.
Warren County will start fall practice Monday, July 30.