By Ryan Black
Staff Writer
 
As cliché as it may sound, special teams is often overlooked for the major difference it can play the outcome of a football game.

One thing is for sure about the upcoming football season for the Morgan County Bulldogs: special teams is something that will not go unnoticed.

The team held a special teams mini-camp on Monday, which lasted from 8 a.m. until noon, with every drill relating to special teams.

"We held this special teams mini-camp to introduce the team to a new scheme," said Special Teams Coordinator Stan Harrison.

Since they are working on new alignments, Harrison said this is something they will continue to work on heading into the season opener on Aug. 27 against Walnut Grove.

"We'll (work on) it again in a few weeks," he said. "We'll have another mini-camp in a few weeks; the mini-camps are a good way to get a lot of information and a lot of work in a short amount of time."

Considering these were schemes the team had never seen before, Harrison was happy with how quickly they took to it.

"I think they did a great job," Harrison said. "They seemed excited about it, and they picked up the drills really quickly, so I'm excited and confident about that."
Head Coach Bill Malone echoed Harrison's sentiments.

"I thought things went as well as I anticipated for a July practice," he said. "For it to be the first day of a voluntary mini-camp, I thought we got a lot done, particularly on kickoff return. I was pleased with how quickly our guys picked up on that."

Harrison approached Malone after last season and told Malone he felt he could focus on analyzing special teams as much as offensive coordinator John Robbins does breaking down defenses and defensive coordinator Doug Huff does trying to stymie offenses. 

"With (Harrison) basically volunteering to do all of this research and visit all of these places, I would have been crazy not to allow him to do it," Malone said. "He has gone off and brought back workbook after workbook, and we're doing our best to try to keep up with him and put it all in."

Harrison is just ready for Aug. 27 to finally get here.

"I'm really excited about this season," he said. "The kids are really upbeat, so they're excited about the season and looking to start fresh. We're in a new region this year in AA and I think we're going to be very competitive."