Evaluation takes priority as May River conducts 1st spring practice

The first offensive play had Richard Bonneville reaching for his cellphone camera.

OK, it was a spring Saturday, players were merely in helmets and shorts and there wasn’t any defensive resistance. But it was the first chance to see the newly assembled May River High Sharks turn a diagram into movement, and their offensive coordinator wanted a video clip.

“I’m excited by some of the talent I see,” head coach Rodney Summers said after putting 53 players through their first workout at River Ridge Academy.

The team gathered for the first time Friday, handing out equipment and giving coaches a chance to learn everyone’s names.

“We’ve got to figure out who can run, who can catch, who can make reads, who can retain a lot of information. That’s the biggest thing now — they have a whole week off and we don’t see them. So next Friday, are we going to be starting from scratch again?”

Unlike established programs that can conduct spring workouts on campus during the week, the Sharks don’t have a place of their own yet and are limited to weekends as Summers and his key assistants come down from other parts of the state.

Bonneville joins Summers in migrating from Westwood High in Blythewood, where they spent the past four years building the Redhawks’ program from scratch. Defensive coordinator Jason Hatcher spent the past two years at Fairfield Central, and was on the staff of Dutch Fork’s 2013 state champions.

“They’ve got a lot of knowledge between them,” Summers said. “I can let them coach and not have to micromanage. I’ve got trust that they’re going to go out there and coach them. I just have to try to manage it all and keep everything on the path.”

The biggest task now is trying to figure out how everyone fits together. Saturday’s position groups were based on what players put down in the signup process, and Summers said discussions will begin this week about possible changes.

“We may have a guy line up a linebacker right now that might be able to play receiver for us, or give us a better shot at safety,” he said. “We really haven’t had a chance to evaluate them.”

Summers said that may be the biggest difference he faces when compared to establishing Westwood’s program. As a Richland Northeast assistant, he already was familiar with several kids who would be moving with him to the new school.

Westwood’s staff also was drawn largely from Columbia, so coaches were nearby to get together for classroom sessions.

“We were a little more hands-on and could teach them our schemes,” Summers said. “We’re going in here a little bit blind, not knowing what they can do in a game situation. At Westwood, at least we had an idea of what a handful could do.”

Even with that, Westwood went 1-9 in its inaugural season before it’s current run of three playoff appearances.

“I told the coaches the worst we can do is 0-10,” Summers quipped. “I’m looking at 1-9 as par. That’s what we did at Westwood. If we win two, we’ve already exceeded that.”

Summers also hopes to see more players as the month progresses. He knows the weekend schedule cuts into other activities, with “probably a dozen” who want to play but couldn’t make the initial weekend.

The Sharks’ schedule the rest of the month calls for Fridays from 5-7 p.m.; Saturdays from 9 a.m. to noon and Sundays from 2-4 p.m. Additional inquiries can be emailed to Summers at rsummers28.rs@gmail.com.

This story was originally published May 7, 2016 at 5:49 PM with the headline "Evaluation takes priority as May River conducts 1st spring practice."