Football Practice: Wood’s McHale Heads Into Debut Season With 47 Players

Posted: August 7, 2013
By ROBERT NIEDZWIECKI

WINCHESTER — As James Wood football coach Mark McHale wrapped up the first day of football practice Monday evening, he went over the itinerary for the upcoming week before uttering words that the players had clearly heard before:

“You can’t what?”

“CAN’T MISS!” they replied.

James Wood repeated the mantra “You can’t miss!” three times before the players jogged back to the locker room.

It remains to be seen how the Colonels will do as far as wins and losses in McHale’s first year, but it’s rather evident that they won’t come up short on organization and enthusiasm.

Players hollered in particular after making big defensive plays, and they demonstrated the hard work that’s been a constant since McHale was hired in March to replace Mike Bolin, who resigned in December after five years as head coach in order to spend more time with his family and pursue a master’s degree.

Though McHale — a 1968 James Wood graduate whose coaching stops include Florida State and Southern Mississippi, where he recruited Brett Favre — wasn’t doing anything revolutionary with his “You can’t miss!” mantra, it reminds the players how important it is to attend all team-related activities and be responsible to yourself and your team.

McHale said he was pleased that every player in his program met the team’s guidelines for weightlifting, conditioning and speed in the offseason. McHale said he had 74 players out for the team Monday, with 47 of them varsity. Last year’s team had 35 varsity players on the first day.

“We tested them two weeks ago, and they showed they had made drastic improvements in the weight room and improved their 40 [yard] times,” said McHale, who thought his players showed they were in good physical condition Monday. “We really saw a lot of improvement in that three-cone shuttle. Their agility got a lot better. We made a lot of strides.”

McHale gives a lot of credit to his assistant coaches for that, but the man at the top certainly did his share too.

“[McHale’s] definitely a motivator,” said senior wide receiver and defensive back Dakota Ordnorff (32 catches, 453 yards, four touchdowns), one of the few veterans on a team with just four returning starters on offense and defense from last year, when James Wood went 1-9. “He gets us motivated every day.”

Basically, linebacker and fullback Daniel Funkhouser said it’s hard not to give one’s all for McHale.

“He strives for us to do the best we can,” Funkhouser said.

James Wood’s players were particularly impressed with the speed drills that McHale organized in the time leading up to August practice.

Funkhouser mentioned one drill where the players ran one mile around the track, sprinting the straightaways and doing stretching exercises on the turns, for making a big difference, and Orndorff mentioned the hill drills that the Colonels did as a notable exercise.

“It definitely made our speed better,” said Funkhouser, moments after he and his teammates finished practice with sprints that covered the length of a football field.

As far as what James Wood plans on doing in games this year, McHale said he’s still evaluating personnel and can’t really say what the team’s identity is going to be in terms of scheme and strengths.

For example, on offense, James Wood found out Sunday night that its starting quarterback last year, Cam Butler, has mononucleosis, which means he’ll be out indefinitely. Juniors Brady Hepner — who competed with Butler for the starting job during preseason camp last year before moving to wide receiver — and Johnny Crouse will be competing for playing time while Butler’s out.

Defensively, the 4-3 figures to at least be a prominent look from James Wood every week.

Based on what Orndorff’s saying, there’s a reason why James Wood was so excitable on defense Monday. In giving up 38.6 points and 384.8 yards per game last year, there was little to celebrate.

“This year our defense is a lot more aggressive, a more in-your-face kind of defense,” Orndorff said.

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