May River coach gets first look at beginnings of roster

Rodney Summers had a few questions for the 20 or so players who came out Saturday to hear his opening pitch about May River football.

“Who’s going to score that first touchdown?” Summers asked. “Who’s going to make that first tackle? That first interception? There’s a lot of firsts to be made here. And then when someone makes the first, the question is who’s going to be the next.”

Saturday’s meeting in the McCracken Middle School cafeteria offered the former Westwood coach his first chance to take stock of what he’ll have when spring practice begins in May, though he admitted it wouldn’t be easy to match faces and names before seeing them on a regular basis.

If nothing else, he’s been through it before.

Summers also built the Westwood program from scratch, taking a new school that was siphoning off from four other Columbia-area programs and going from a two-win debut season to three consecutive playoff berths.

“The big thing is the unknown,” Summers said before the meet-and-greet session commenced. “It was kind of the same deal when I was at Westwood. You knew a few of the kids that were coming, but you really didn’t know exactly. So it’ll be a lot of evaluation at first, just seeing what we have to work with.”

Judging from what the kids who attended Saturday were saying, the Sharks seem well-stocked in outside linebackers and safeties, a little light in the trenches. One eighth-grader said he played quarterback, so there’s a building block. Maybe.

“You see them come through and it’s hard to tell,” the coach said. “Some kid says he plays quarterback, but he weighs 250 pounds. You’re thinking, ‘I don’t think he plays quarterback.’ ”

Though a couple of juniors-to-be showed up, May River inevitably will field a young squad when the season opens. Summers said he’s looked at Bluffton video from last season, but didn’t know how much good that did him.

“I was saying, ‘I’d like to have him and him and him,’ ” Summers said with a chuckle. “Coach (Ken) Cribbs has a good group over there coming back.”

Spring workouts for the new team will begin May 6, with plans to practice on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays through May 29. With campus construction still ongoing, administrators are talking to River Ridge Academy about using their place a spring home.

Until then, Summers plans on a few more informational sessions as he continues to acquaint himself with the Lowcountry.

“The first one was hit-or-miss,” he recalled from his Westwood beginnings. “As we got closer to spring practice, we saw more (players) show up. You just take it all in and get to learn the kids. I’m just eager to start practice and get after it.”

This story was originally published March 12, 2016 at 7:19 PM with the headline "May River coach gets first look at beginnings of roster."