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Related Photos

  • TVCC Head Football Coach Brad Smiley, center, offers instruction on the first day of spring workouts Monday afternoon at Bruce Field. The workouts will continue throughout the month. Jayson Larson/Athens Review

    Smiley talks to his troops

  • Running back Josh Johnson, above, should become more of an offensive focal point with the departure of standout Chad Winbush. Jayson Larson/Athens Review

    Josh Johnson in spring workouts

Discussion

March 30, 2010

TVCC SPRING FOOTBALL: Spring flingin’ (w/2010 schedule)

Smiley looking for next fall’s leaders as practices get under way

Jayson Larson The Athens Review

Athens — Spring football is an especially exciting time around Trinity Valley Community College.

After a 4-5 season that began with so much promise but ended without a berth in the Southwest Junior College Football Conference, it allows the Cardinals to get back on the field and begin work on turning things around.

That work technically began Monday with workouts at Bruce Field. But it isn’t the first work the team has put in since the beginning of 2010. Head Coach Brad Smiley and his staff have been putting the team through 6 a.m. “Breakfast Club” workouts the past three weeks.

Through that process, and since the end of last season, Smiley has seen a number of players show promise and leadership. Others have fallen off the program and are no longer with the team.

“Today, this is exciting,” he said, “because these are the guys who we know we can count on.”

The Cardinals will work out 20 times this spring, ending May 1 with a scrimmage. Smiley said 73 players are participating in the workouts, including 14 offensive linemen and 10 wide receivers.

Those numbers are worth a mention because those two units arguably lost the most talent. Gone from the receiving corp is Chris Young and Darnell Williams, and all five offensive line starters have also moved on. All were sophomores.

The cupboard isn’t entirely bare, Smiley explains, when it comes to the men up front. Working for spots on the line are Colton Collins and Wayne Harris, the team’s only returning letterman on the unit; Dustin Marshall, who started nine games for Cisco two years ago; and Isaac Puapuaga, a monster who is moving over from the defensive line.

Smiley also has three players working at quarterback: Chris Chapman; Jaren Williams; and Si Blackshire, who transferred from Kilgore.

2010 TVCC

Football Schedule

A21    at Tyler (scrimm.)    TBA

A28    Independence (Kan.)    7 p.m.

S4    at Cisco    7 p.m.

S11    OPEN

S18    *at Kilgore    7 p.m.

S25    *Tyler+    7 p.m.

O2    at Arkansas Baptist    1 p.m.

O9    *at NEO    3 p.m.

O16    *Blinn#    3 p.m.

O23    *Cisco^    3 p.m.

O30    *at Navarro    3 p.m.

N6    SWJCFC Semifinals    TBA

N13    SWJCFC Championship    TBA



 * SWJCFC game

+ Family Day

# Hall of Fame Day

^ Homecoming

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