By Erik Harris
Clay-Chalkville head football coach Jerry Hood now has all the artillery he needs to bring his star-studded offense back down to earth before August 22, when he takes his guys up to Murfreesboro, Tenn. for the season opener against Blackman (Tenn.).
“It was not our best performance,” said Hood. “I think it was the best thing that could have happened to us to get us right back to where we need to be as far as being a humble, hard worker.”
The cougars did come away with a 7-0 win over host Bessemer City in the varsity portion of Friday night’s spring scrimmage, but the scoreboard operator didn’t get a fraction of the workout he expected the defending Class 6A state champions to give him.
“I didn’t think we had very good leadership on offense,” Hood said. “I think we were just kind of expecting ourselves to pick up right where you left off and forgot that it’s a new day, and you’ve got to earn it every single day.”
A hookup between the defending Class 6A Back of the Year award winner, Ty Pigrome, and Alabama wide receiver pledge, T.J. Simmons, triggered the only varsity score of the evening.
Pigrome rolled out of the pocket, baited the defense up and delivered a 30-yard strike to his favorite target. Pigrome found Simmons 43 times last season for 965 yards and 17 touchdowns.
“It was basically a play that they made off of a scramble drill,” said Hood of the touchdown pass.
That one burst of offense was all Clay-Chalkville needed, as its defense, which is replacing all but two starters from last year’s championship unit, held the Tigers scoreless.
“Those kids are just hungry kids, wanting to play and they do what the coaches ask them to do, and they did it with the right attitude, and their performance was outstanding,” Hood said.
Despite loosing so many pieces from a talented 2014 defense, Hood is encouraged with the new unit’s ability to play larger at the linebacker position. He also believes depth could be a strong point, with the capability of rotating 15 or 16 guys out on the field.
Returning starter Nick Battle is one of the very few familiar faces on the new defense, and even he is being thrown into some unfamiliar situations. The upcoming senior spent last fall as a member of the linebacker corps, but is experimenting with some work in the secondary this spring.
His transition into more of a pass-first defender seems to be developing nicely, as he deleted a great scoring opportunity for Bessemer City. Battle’s interception in the end zone went a long way in keeping the Tigers off the scoreboard.
The Cougars’ other returning defensive starter, Terry Brown, missed spring drills with an injury.
With Amari Holloway and Shades Valley transfer C.J. Toney locking down the two starting cornerback positions, Hood wants a third cornerback to emerge as a steady nickel back option. Battle and Armoni Holloway are expected to get the start in the back end.
One of the positives that Hood took from his team’s offensive effort was standing in the backfield. Brandon Berry seems to be the first guy up in replacing the program’s all-time leading rusher, Terrelle West.
“I think Brandon will be fine,” said Hood. “He’s a tough kid. He was one of the ones I would say that graded out a positive with his attitude, as far as taking the game very serious, and the rest of us just have to work on that a little bit.”