ORHS 2022-23 football season preview
This is the first of a two-part introduction to the 2022 Oak Ridge High School Football Team. In this installment, we will look at Coach Scott Cummings’ new staff and his vision for the program. In the next installment, we will discuss the team itself and its prospects for the 2022 season.
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Longtime Oak Ridgers know the many traditions and legends of Oak Ridge High School football: the pungent smell of a sweaty, packed autumn Friday night at Blankenship Field.
The 72 steps.
The legendary players and coaches of eight state championship teams.
The names Jackie Pope, Emory Hale, Shawn Summers, Tee Higgins, and Joe Gaddis.
Each time Oak Ridge hires a new football coach, this is the rich and colorful history the coach steps into. When former West, Cleveland, and Halls coach Scott Cummings was hired as Head Football Coach at ORHS last winter, he brought with him his own state-championship-winning pedigree and a commitment to doing every little thing to revamp the football program his own way. This included bringing in an all-new staff of coaches, many of whom have roles in the school so that the coaching staff can build the necessary relationships with players outside of football, help players with their grades and coursework, and even be able to coach little things by running into them in the hallway and talking football. This old-school teacher-coach model is a well-known way to develop a quality program.
On defense, one of Cummings’ earliest hires was former Tennessee Vol and NFL star Robert Ayers, who came to OR from Catholic. Ayers is the Defensive Coordinator and Inside Linebackers Coach and brings not only his experience with the highest levels of football, but also an intuitive ability to reach high school age players and teach the game from the inside. At Defensive Line Coach is former Wildcat and Middle Tennessee State University star Alex Stuart, who returns to the staff after some time away. Former South Doyle Offensive Coordinator Rusty Partin is now the Outside Linebackers Coach and teaches Inclusion classes in the Special Education Department. Former Wildcat Ted Mitchell coaches cornerbacks in addition to coaching basketball at the high school and is a teacher assistant at Jefferson Middle. Eric Daniels, who coaches safeties, comes to OR from Colorado as a teacher assistant.
On offense, Cummings is his own Offensive Coordinator and Quarterbacks Coach. He hired Kevin Day from Lakeway Christian and Carson Newman as Running Back coach and Strength Coach, and, although he plans to call plays himself, Cummings emphasizes that Day will coordinate the run game and have a lot of play-calling input. Vonce Henderson returns as Wide Receivers Coach and works in the Special Education Department. Longtime ORHS U.S. history teacher and coach Ron Gray returns from a hiatus from Oak Ridge football as Offensive Line Coach. Former Robertsville Middle coach James Branson will coach tight ends and teach in the ORHS Social Studies Department. Collin Karnes moves over from Halls as Head Freshman Coach and works as a TA with the Special Education Department. Cummings’ most recent addition is former Wildcat Ricky Chitwood, who will help with freshmen and with defense and will oversee the ORHS ISS program.
Cummings brings with him a detailed vision of the future of Wildcat football and argues that “any good athletics program has a commitment to strength and conditioning. Of course, football by its nature requires a really strong strength program to have sustained success.”
To shore up the strength and conditioning program, Day will both work in the Wellness Department at ORHS and oversee football strength and conditioning. Day brings with him a detailed six-year plan called Block Programming that is designed to prepare middle school athletes’ bodies to properly execute the movements that athletes must master in order to excel: the athletic position, the air squat, the pushup, hinge, strict press, front squat, and a variety of lunges. As athletes progress through Block 0 to Blocks 1 and 2 in high school, they become progressively stronger and balanced while executing the basic movements correctly. Cummings says that he worked hard to get Day on staff and in the building, and he praises former principal Garfield Adams, saying, “He bought in too or it wouldn't have happened.”
Day has already led the first Coaches Professional Development session of the year and has begun working with baseball, basketball, track, and other sports, as well.
Looking ahead, Cummings says that he thinks “Oak Ridge is a place where you must think big.” He mentions an indoor facility such as the new one in Clinton, as achievable. Of course, Blankenship Field with its 72 steps, its new turf and fencing, and its long and storied history is the best place to play ball in East Tennessee, but he also says, “The truth is the locker room situation there needs to be addressed. Having a bigger locker room we can all get into and talk to players during halftime in some reasonable way would be nice.” He plans to think big on a plan to renovate the locker rooms and press box at Blankenship Field.
Cummings mentions the challenge posed to football by the reconstruction of the Ben Martin Track and Field facility, which precluded the team from practicing on its normal practice field: “Wow, it has been a huge challenge for us not having a practice field. Huge. Football requires tons of equipment and managing that back and forth to Blankenship has been brutal. Now we also have freshmen, so it's even tougher, and it has put a strain on all of us, including parents. We have 106 players right now and managing all their equipment and everything else has been hard.”
He praises the efforts of Allen Thacker and Michael “Big Cat” Laurendine and the rest of the ORHS Maintenance Department who moved all the football equipment to Blankenship and back, as well as keeping the lower practice field along the Turnpike as playable as possible. Still, the project has been an undeniable obstacle, and he looks forward to being able to use the practice field in mid-August after the asphalt is on the new track oval.
Finally, Cummings talked at some length about the necessity of having a strong, aligned feeder system in Oak Ridge, not only for football but for all sports. He praises former Wildcat star Shawn Summers at the Boys Club, saying, “We have good leadership at Boys and Girls Club and we all need to get behind youth football in Oak Ridge again. I'm about all kids playing in Oak Ridge and not going outside of it to play youth football.”
He points out the need to have more high-quality coaches and role models and “to really look at a systematic approach from the ground up now. From youth to middle school to high school, Oak Ridge is a place we could have a system where everyone runs our base stuff and teaches the same fundamentals with same terminology. This is a true community school place. If high school wins a state title, I truly believe the middle school coaches should get rings, too, because they will be a critical part of our success. It's that important to me.”
Next week: who are the playmakers and what's the outlook as the Wildcats take on the 2022 season?
Allen Etheridge is an English teacher, and sports information and assistant athletic director for Oak Ridge High School.
Oak Ridge Wildcat 2022-23 Football Schedule
DATE OPPONENT TIME LOCATION
Aug 19 South-Doyle 7 p.m. Knoxville
Aug 26 Bearden 7 p.m. Bearden
Sept. 2 Clinton-R 7 p.m. Blankenship Field
Sept. 9 Farragut 7 p.m. Blankenship Field
Sept. 16 Lenoir City-R 7 p.m. Blankenship Field
Sept. 23 BYE WEEK N/A N/A
Sept. 30 Powell-R 7 p.m. Powell
Oct. 7 Greeneville 7 p.m. Blankenship Field
Oct. 13* Karns-R 7 p.m. Blankenship Field
Oct 21 Dobyns-Bennett 7 p.m. Kingsport
Oct 28 Campbell County-R 7 p.m. Jacksboro
R - Region Game
* Thursday game night
All home games are played on Blankenship Field at Jack Armstrong Stadium, located at 213 Broadway Ave, Oak Ridge, TN 37830.
This article originally appeared on Oakridger: ORHS 2022-23 football season preview
