FOOTBALL FRIDAY: New coach Shook has Pike Road looking to return to glory
New Pike Road coach Granger Shook is implementing his schemes as he takes over the Patriots’ team this fall. (Tim Gayle)
By TIM GAYLE
Ed. Note: Summer workouts have begun across the River Region and most high school football teams are already setting up for the 2023 season. Beginning today, RRS will take a look at the preparations for teams in the region and look ahead to the upcoming season.
PIKE ROAD -- Kaleb Foster is on his third head coach in as many years, but the Pike Road senior-to-be felt good about the Patriots’ performance in the recent spring scrimmage game.
“I feel like we’re going to have a great year,” Foster said. “We’ll have fun, excitement, the fans are going to be lit, everything’s going to be exciting.”
New head coach Granger Shook wasn’t quite as ecstatic as his first-team quarterback. He knew the process was still in its early stages as the Patriots went through just their sixth practice in pads to wrap up spring drills.
“To be honest, the spring scrimmage is really for the mamas, the daddies and the fans,” Shook said. “What we got out of the spring is our kids are buying in and I’m very proud of that. Our kids are learning that we have to be more physical, our kids are learning that we have to tackle better, block better, do the little things right. So we started laying a foundation that we can continue to build on this summer.”
Approximately 80 kids turned out for spring practice and Shook gave his players a crash course in offense and defense as the coaching staff went through the process of installing a new scheme on both sides of the ball.
“We had eight practices and six of them were in shoulder pads,” Shook said, “so there’s still so much room to grow. Potential, I’m very encouraged by what I see but there’s still a lot of room for improvement.”
It’s safe to say virtually every defense is ahead of a newly installed offense during spring practice and the same is true for Pike Road, but Shook felt good about his offense’s production as it transitioned from a run-oriented spread attack in 2021 to a single wing attack in 2022 to a multiple spread attack in 2023.
“Our offense was making some good holes,” said the former head coach at Trinity. “I thought our O-line played really well, I thought our quarterback has really matured. Kaleb has progressed exponentially the last couple of weeks, so I’m excited to see what lays in store.”
While the offense got some production from running backs Patrick Carter and Quin Robinson, it was a little tougher going for Foster and second-team quarterback Cason Myers, who hit on several screens and short-range passes but relied heavily on the run game and rarely looked to connect on explosive passing plays.
“We’ve been learning more but we just didn’t do that much today,” Foster said. “We just did the simple stuff.”
As he prepares for his second year as the Pike Road starter, Foster offered a simple assessment of the Patriots’ offense.
“As the year goes on, we’re going to grow but we need to hustle more,” he said.