As the first week of football practice at Bartlesville High Spring comes to a close, first-year head coach Harry Wright feels most encouraged by what he’s seen.
“Our defense looked good today,” he said of Thursday’s unit. “We forced several turnovers. Our defense line looked good.”
The primary focus is on installing base offense and base defense in preparation for the Navy vs. White game scheduled for Saturday at Custer Stadium.
This will be the first chance for Bruin Grid fans to witness the early imprint of Wright and a largely retooled coaching staff on the team’s style.
In conjunction with the Navy vs. White action set to begin at 7 p.m. Saturday, Wright is celebrating the Bruin Grid tradition. Alumni games — involving several dozen former players — are scheduled for 6 p.m. to about 6:45 p.m., with the championship scheduled for about 8 p.m. after the Navy vs. White action ends.
As of Thursday evening, there was a possibility that the graduation ceremony in Bartlesville could be postponed from Friday to Saturday due to bad weather. In this scenario, the alumni games and Navy vs. White scrimmage are moved to Monday night.
Returning veteran quarterback Nate Neal — who gained starting experience and other playing time as a freshman last season — and Brett Eaves will take snaps at scrimmage, Wright said.
Both will see time with the Navy or the Blue to get different defensive looks.
Eaves also gets reps to safety.
Wright continues to be impressed with the talented players, including up-and-coming P,J sophomores. Wallace at the ball carrier. He, Austin Zink and Cameron Hightower are among the main contenders who will be in the mix. All three made several university handovers in the past season.
Bartlesville’s receiving corps also includes several well-known targets, led by college standout sophomore Caden Brown.
“He had a really, really good spring,” Wright said. “He’s probably The Guy. He did a lot of plays.”
Others in the group were Damien Niko, Noah Darnell and Eli Lino.
Niko “has the prototypical receiver outer frame,” Wright said. “Noah Darnell is another one who did several plays this spring. Eli Lino had a really good spring too.”
Wright is excited to see how the offensive line will come together as the unit is reduced to the starting group.
He praised the work of the offensive line coaching.
Some of the pit warriors who deserved Wright’s attention are Shaun Lickliter, Julian Weigant, Cooper Wood, and others.
At linebackers, Ashton Lydon and Casey Young both performed well, Wright said.