Hancock wants to get football players moving in spring

Apr. 29—Hancock County wanted to get its football players who had been working in the weight room all winter out and moving on the field.

That is the emphasis of what the Hornets are working on as their spring practice is in its first week in Hawesville.

"Just getting those guys in the weight room in the offseason, get them out moving around, doing stuff, half our group is doing baseball and track, so we get them out there and watch them, see them doing some football moves," Hancock County coach Bobby Eubanks said.

With a lot of skill players doing spring sports, the Hornets also get to see some players who didn't get much time on the field last season.

"Those guys that maybe didn't get a lot of reps, football only guys, we let them get reps in the spring, and it gives those younger guys chance to see where they fit," Eubanks said. "You always find some of those guys in the younger classes, they're kind of timid as freshmen but you can see some glimpses of what they could be during jayvee games. You have a handful of guys that you want to see what they can do in the spring."

Hancock County waited until later to start spring drills, hoping the weather would stabilize some. Its first practice session earlier this week got knocked off because of wet field conditions.

"We're trying to get some good weather," Eubanks said.

Hancock County went 7-5 last year and lost in the second round of the Class 2-A playoffs to Owensboro Catholic.

"We lost some linemen, but we've got pretty much everybody back, we will have 15 seniors," Eubanks said. "Most of those were playing as freshmen."

The Hornets are looking at better numbers overall, if winter weight conditioning was an indication.

"We had 38 kids in the weight room, we have 15 plus kids in three of our four classes, which is good for us," Eubanks said. "We have a little depth, and we want to kind of see what that depth looks like.

"Kids were working hard, the weight room full every time we'd come in. We had some new guys show up, it may be the first time they've done anything like that, and it's been exciting watching them grow."

Hancock County is looking to fill a couple of spots where offensive linemen graduated.

"We have some holes on the offensive line, that's where we need to shore things up the most, and that can be tough to do," Eubanks said.

Hancock County usually runs between 195 pounds to 250 pounds. Weight is not a key thing for linemen at Hancock County, which runs a spread triple option.

"We don't put much emphasis on how big, our dudes need to be able to move," Eubanks said.

Logan Willis ran for 1,197 yards and 11 touchdowns last season as a junior for the Hornets. Cole Dixon had four passing touchdowns and four rushing touchdowns. Dixon is still doing rehab for an ACL injury last season, but he should be good to go by the summer, Eubanks said.

There will be limited contact for Hancock County during the spring.

"We treat it like we do in June, we don't wear helmets," Eubanks said. "It's not worth it going out there trying to bang on each other."