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Smoky Mountain football practice will start Monday
It’s been a busy six months for Dale Galloway since he was named Smoky Mountain football coach, and things are about to get even busier.
The Mustangs will open practice for the upcoming season Monday, July 31. The initial practice will be from 5:30-8 p.m. and will include all players in grades 10-12 as well as some ninth-graders.
Players from grades 7-8 and other ninth-graders will not start until Aug. 15.
Plans are to field varsity, JV and middle school teams.
In a change from past years, players will wear helmets the first three days of practice and add shoulder pads for the next three days. They will go to full gear and begin contact on the seventh day.
“It’s football,” Galloway said. “I’m always excited about football. We’ve had good turnouts for our summer workouts. We’ve put a priority on our conditioning, and you can see it paying off. They understand where we want to go, and that is nowhere but up. We want to be ready physically to play by July 31 if we had to.”
Taking over a new program means different things to worry about for Galloway than what he faced in recent years as coach at Ashe County.
“There’s a tremendous amount to learn,” he said. “We always feel like we’re behind every day, but that’s more of a coaching mind set than reality. We had gotten in a routine at Ashe County, and terminology was in place. Now it’s teaching what is going to be our identity. It’s takes time. Much of what we are taking care of is new to the coaches also.”
Practices and an Aug. 12 scrimmage at Western Carolina will give Galloway a chance to start putting the pieces of the puzzle in place as he tries to determine who fits where before the season-opener against Hendersonville on Thursday, Aug. 17, at WCU.
“We don’t have a single starter,” he said. “We don’t know where we’re going to play anyone. I feel we have a quality starter for every position on our team. We just don’t know who they are yet. We tried to explain that the process of putting them in the right place where they can help the team the most never really ends. We don’t want them to think everything is set in stone.”
Galloway will be learning more about how his players fit into his run-oriented philosophy, but in some ways he said it doesn’t matter.
“There are certain fundamental things we would do regardless of what kids we have,” he said. “We have got to run the football. To be a successful football team in the mountains of Western North Carolina, that has always been the case. That mentality would be in place regardless of personnel. We’re not neglecting throwing the football, but that’s not our priority.”
Galloway didn’t hesitate when asked to name a team weakness and strength.
“We need to be physically stronger,” he said. “We’ve worked on that and made some strides. We have a lot of depth at the skill positions, and there aren’t a lot of differences in the kids in that group. We’re looking for some depth in the offensive line. Defensively, the kids are responding to the aggressiveness we’re trying to teach. They seem to be enjoying our scheme. We don’t have anybody that is going to leave anybody in the dust, but we have decent team speed. I think we can put out a group of 11 people who all can run well.”
The Mustangs are coming off back-to-back 1-10 seasons, and Galloway is looking to take the first steps in turning the program around.
“I’m nervous and anxious as every coach is this time of year,” he said. “I respect the fact there are teams that have a lot of talent, but I feel like we can compete with everybody on our schedule. We’re certainly not afraid of anybody.”
Taking a look at the Western Athletic Conference with SM out of the equation, Galloway said Brevard is probably the class of the league with Pisgah and West Henderson a toss-up for second followed closely by East Henderson.
“We’ve got to find a way to wedge ourselves in somewhere in the mix,” the coach said. “We’ve got to go after the people that finished a little bit above us.”
Rebuilding the program won’t be easy, but Galloway is ready to get started.
“The job is large,” he said. “There’s a lot to be done. I had gotten to a comfort level, but in switching jobs the ground work starts all over again. There’s a lot of hours and effort getting out, getting to know people, getting to know the kids and them getting to know me and the coaching staff.”
The Aug. 12 scrimmage at WCU’s E. J. Whitmire Stadium/Bob Waters Field will send the Mustangs against Charlotte Christian from 3:50-4:15 p.m. They will face Owen from 4:20-4:45 p.m. and Hayesville from 4:50-5:15 p.m. Additional sessions are planned for kicking and goal line situations.
The schedule is as follows:
Aug. 17 – Hendersonville at WCU; 25 – Swain.
Sept. 1 – at Hayesville; 8 – Murphy; 15 – at Franklin; 29 – Tuscola.
Oct. 6 – Brevard; 13 – at East Henderson; 20 – at North Henderson; 27 – West Henderson.
Nov. 3 – at Pisgah.
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