Panthers ready for fall grind

n The Siloam Springs football team begins fall practice on Monday, Aug. 5.

Graham Thomas/Siloam Sunday Siloam Springs senior receiver Tate Criner hauls in a pass during the Southwest Elite 7 on 7 Showcase held at Shiloh Christian on July 12-13. Criner and the Panthers begin fall workouts on Monday afternoon at Panther Stadium.
Graham Thomas/Siloam Sunday Siloam Springs senior receiver Tate Criner hauls in a pass during the Southwest Elite 7 on 7 Showcase held at Shiloh Christian on July 12-13. Criner and the Panthers begin fall workouts on Monday afternoon at Panther Stadium.

Fall football practice will have a bit of a different feel to it this August for the Siloam Springs football team.

After the last several years of opening fall camp with early morning practices, the Panthers will go through this year's workouts in the afternoons, beginning Monday at Panther Stadium.

The Panthers would prefer to work out in the morning when the temperature is cooler, but a number of factors have contributed to this year's start times.

School begins on Aug. 13, but teacher meetings start on Aug. 5, which is also the first day football teams are allowed to begin practice according to the calendar set by the Arkansas Activities Association.

"The situation is we (teachers) have to be in meetings from 8 (a.m.) to 3:30 (p.m.) and we're not free until after that and all that is priority first," said Panthers head coach Brandon Craig.

The Panthers will have roll call and a team meeting each day at 4 p.m. followed by a pre-practice weight lifting session, position meetings and film. On the field practice is expected to begin around 5 p.m. and end around 7:30 p.m.

Coaches are hoping that by doing some inside work at the start of practice, they can avoid the hottest part of the day in the mid afternoon.

"We've looked at what is forecast," Craig said. "Temperatures, looks like they're going to be upper 80s, lower 90s. It will be something we have to monitor as usual. We have to monitor it all the time anyway. We're going to try to do some meetings and lift and pre-practice things inside before we hit the field. Hopefully we'll get a little bit of a break on the temperature."

The Panthers are coming off a 5-6 season in 2018, Craig's first at Siloam Springs, where they advanced to the Class 6A playoffs for the first time in 2014.

Craig said the Panthers have had a "very, very productive summer."

"Our kids have put in a lot of work and a lot of time," he said. "I feel like they're totally invested in what's going on. The ones that are here every day, they're ready to go."

Craig said the Panthers have already installed most of of their offense and defense, so they are ahead of the game in those departments.

"One of our main objectives now is to focus on special teams and really work to solidify those and make those as sharp as possible before August 30th," Craig said, referencing the date of the Panthers' season-opener against Van Buren at Panther Stadium. "That's going to be one of our number one focuses. And then fundamentals, we're always working on fundamentals, always making sure we're doing things fundamentally correct in all positions, and just continue to work on those."

Craig said offensively, a key objective for the Panthers is developing the offensive line.

"It's the same every year," he said. "It's going to be O-line cohesion -- just them starting to work together and feel each other in a consistent manner and get the right set of guys in there offensive line-wise. Once that happens everything kind of takes off from there."

Defensively, he said the linebacker play has to be an area of emphasis.

"Establishing some consistency at linebacker," he said. "I feel like our D-line is in good shape. In the secondary a lot of guys are returning. So it's going to be linebackers. We're going to have some guys that are new and fresh in there at linebacker, so they're going to have to really work hard to get where they need to be before the season starts."

Craig expects around 55 players to report in grades 10-12, a similar size roster to the Panthers in 2018. Lower numbers in recent years are a concern for several programs, not just Siloam Springs.

"You go through this process and a lot of kids can't hold up the commitment side of things," Craig said. "And a lot of kids don't want to be pushed. If you're going to win on Friday nights, you have to make that commitment and you have to be willing to be pushed. It's not easy. Winning is not an easy process. And a lot of kids just can't handle it."

Sports on 08/04/2019