Huntingdon completes first practice in full pads

MONTGOMERY, Ala. – The Huntingdon football team closed out its first practice in full gear a little early on Monday.

Rain and lightning forced an early end to the fifth practice of the preseason, but head coach Mike Turk said it was a productive session.

"The weather knocked off the last 15-20 minutes of practice, which was the tail end of our full-speed work," Turk said. "We were able to get some of our 11-on-11 work done, so that's a good thing. We just weren't able to finish.

"For the first day in full pads, the intensity was good and guys were getting after each other. I think our defensive mentality is good right now. We're still making some mistakes, but we have a lot of guys playing hard and flying around."

The defensive coaches are keeping a watchful eye on the linebacker positions. While the secondary returns three starters and the defensive line returns five players with game experience, the Hawks are less experienced at linebacker.

"We lost a lot of guys that played linebacker for us last year," Turk said. "We have a few guys back and we've moved some guys around to try and find the right combination of people to make it work. The early stages of practice have been very important to try and identify who the leaders are and increase their reps so they will be ready."

Turk said he is not ready to point out the frontrunners for starting positions, but said several players are battling for playing time.

"We have a lot of guys at this position, but we have to figure out who the leaders are and who the best ones are," Turk said. "We have to start by finding three linebackers, work our way to finding our top six and whatever we can find beyond that is gravy. But we have to find our starting three first."

The Hawks will practice again in full gear on Tuesday at 9 a.m. Practice is open to the public.