By JASON KING
Leader sports writer
The good thing about rebuilding a football program at Cabot is the number of tools to choose from.
The numbers have been steady between 80 and 90 players, with only 14 seniors. And with seven open spots on each side of the ball, head coach Mike Malham has been keeping a watchful eye on the underclassmen talent through the first two weeks of August camp.
“I think we’re making progress,” Malham said. “About seven or eight on each side of the ball, there’s a lot of inexperience there, a lot of learning to do. Not only are we replacing a bunch of starters from last year, there’s a lot of sophomores involved in that process.”
Malham projects three sophomores to start on the offensive line – Heath Pledger, his twin brother Keith Pledger and Alec Ramirez. Other sophomores could also factor in up front.
Defensively, safeties Jordan Burke and Chris Henry are a couple of 10th-graders who have seen frequent reps in the secondary.
“I guess we’re kind of thin,” Malham said. “I don’t know if they’re there yet mentally, but physically, they’re better than what we’ve got above them. So there’s a lot of experience to gain. I don’t know if we’ll takeour lumps early and grow – hopefully, we’ll grow up before we get to that first game.”
The Panthers have not joined the team-camp bandwagon like most of the programs in central Arkansas, but they did work at some 7 on 7 during the summer.
“We do a lot of stuff here on our own,” Malham said. “Two workouts a week they’ve got to come in and get. Weights and running and 7 on 7, they’ve got to do a lot, so we don’t even mess with the team camps. We try to give them a little time off anyway.”
Another advantage for Malham and the coaching staff when it comes to breaking in new blood is the simplicity of Cabot’s Dead-T offense. It is a system learned by both North and South junior-high football teams, and utilizes simple running strategies of straight-ahead and off-tackle handoffs.
“We’re not real complex,” Malham said. “We keep things as simple as possible. I would rather them know a few things well than a lot of things average. I think we’re in good shape as far as getting everything in. We’ve got two more weeks before we get to game week.”
