SPRING FOOTBALL | Beard pleased with Yellow Jackets’ work … – The Livingston Parish News

All things considered, Denham Springs High football coach Brett Beard came away from Saturdays spring scrimmage against East Ascension with a good feeling about where the team stands heading into summer workouts.

Neither team scored during the portion of the scrimmage with a set number of plays, and the Spartans outscored the Yellow Jackets 14-7 as the teams competed in two live 12-minute halves.

With our inexperience, I was really excited to see the new faces, the new names, these new kids after their offseason, just show up and compete and really show us what they had been working on and show us what they were ready to do, Beard said. We got everything out of it we wanted and more and couldnt be more excited about this group and where its heading.

I walked away very pleased, Beard continued. When you are so inexperienced and you get into a dogfight, a physical fight like we got into with EA, it can really go a bunch of different ways. It can unravel at times. It can get ugly at times, but our kids stayed real constant, competed, got physical back, executed (in) some critical situations and did some good things and created some turnovers and got hit in the mouth and kept hitting back. It was a lot of fun to watch them compete and continue to grow up.

The DSHS defense forced five turnovers in the first part of the scrimmage, with LSU commitment DaShawn McBryde getting an interception to set the tone.

The inexperience in the box, Beard said. We still have a lot of work to do there, but our kids were physical. They flew around, and when they had opportunities to make plays, they made them. The very first throw they make, DaShawn McBryde picks off, which is something that weve become quite familiar with. We have to do a good job of putting them in situations where theyve got to throw the ball. Youve got to win first and second down, and then offensively, weve got to finish some drives to get people uncomfortable and pulling the trigger a little more to really use the strengths of our DBs and let them not only be really good against the run but create those turnovers and fly around and get picks.

Beard was also pleased with the effort of his offense in different areas, starting with the offensive line.

Our O-line is very inexperienced, and I thought they did a good job, Beard said. They battled. They competed. You could see them get a little more comfortable as time went on. Thats really a big thing for us. With our football program, were going to have to do some things as coaches to protect these O-linemen and do some things with our personnel to protect them until they get comfortable because all of them are new.

Elsewhere, Beard said the Jackets hit a screen pass to RJ Johnson on a third-and-long to pick up a first down.

Its set up perfectly, Beard said of the play. Its a big timing play, and to see our guys execute that (got us) really fired up. I thought we did a good job, for the most part, running the football. There are just some things weve got to clean up in the passing game. Im excited to see the growth of this offense. Theyre going through with a change with (DSHS offensive coordinator) Coach (Kyle) Caskey, and everythings new. Its just going to take time, but you could see growth, and thats whats most important. We were a lot better Day 10 (of spring practice) than we were Day 1.

Beard said the scrimmage helped lay the foundation for the Yellow Jackets summer workouts.

Weve got to continue to get comfortable with our offense, and weve just got to continue to grow, Beard said. Offensively, theyve got to continue to get comfortable together O-line wise, and were still looking for guys to step up and get those guys reps in 7-on-7 and then see what young guys are still on the bubble of blowing up and giving us guys that can play varsity.

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SPRING FOOTBALL | Beard pleased with Yellow Jackets' work ... - The Livingston Parish News