Marietta's football team enjoyed some morning glory at the Davis Avenue practice high school field at 8 a.m. Monday.
Just what the coach ordered to start two-a-day preseason workouts. Actually, any day of being on the gridiron is a good day.
"It was a beautiful day out," said first-year MHS head football coach Adam Eichhorn. "There was a little breeze, and the sun was shining. I don't think we're supposed to have any nasty heat this week so we shouldn't have too many concerns about having to get out of the sun. Of course, this time of year, you never know what's going to pop up."
Article Photos
RON JOHNSTON The Marietta Times
Marietta High first-year head football coach Adam Eichhorn addresses the Tigers at the end of Monday’s morning practice session at the Davis Avenue practice field. Standing in the background is MHS offensive coordinator Jason Schob.
MHS offensive right guard Tanner Leach agreed and added, "It was actually pretty perfect. The windsprints were rough. We used to do more of them. We're used to them, though."
Used to them maybe, but it still hurts.
"I'm a little sore," said MHS offensive center Eddie Kimbrough. "I haven't run for a week. We were off for a week.
"It was all right out there. It wasn't too hot."
Overall, the Tigers were a spirited group on the field, going through drills and running. Always running. They wanted to be there, because they knew that with hard work and sweat - maybe even some hurt - they can get better.
And, in football, that's the name of the game, getting better every day all the time.
"You always got your first-day wrinkles," Eichhorn said. "We had our 10 days going through installing the offense and defense. I felt that we picked up right where we left off.
"We're feeling good with where we're at with the offense. We've got a lot of it put in, and it's just a matter of getting reps. Until we go full-go, it's just a lot to learn and coaching."
Eichhorn paused.
"We've just got to get a way to crank up that intensity a little bit now that we're actually in our two-a-days," the Marietta boss continued. "We're got to get these guys a little more excited."
More excited?
What could be more thrilling than a long touchdown throw from Tiger quarterback Anthony Kimbrough to Chance Wright near the end of the morning session?
OK, OK, it was just a practice throw, but the guys appeared to really get into it, jumping and bumping each other afterwards.
"I think we did pretty good," Leach said. "We worked hard and got a lot of reps in. We didn't practice at all last week, but I still ran to try to stay in shape. We're looking good."
Eichhorn smiled.
"There's always things that you can get better at and there's things that you feel that you've gotten better at," he said. "They know it and that's a huge thing. They can play faster when they know it. There's just a lot of ins and outs that you've got to get through. We're ahead of the curve where we feel we need to be - at least offensively.
"Defensively, we're maybe a couple of days behind."
