Courtesy: KHSFootball.com
Published: 07/09/2009

The Red Devil football squad are ready for this Saturday's USF Sling and Shoot Tournament. Head Coach Irving Strickland says the team has been preparing for 3 weeks now and are just making a few last minute play adjustments that they plan on running at the tournament.

Strickland says the team will be running their regular playbook and have added a few new plays specifically for the tournament. Most of the plays will be run out of their empty sets, Thumper and Rabbits, so that they will have all 5 receivers available to catch passes.

Like many 7-on-7 tournaments around the state, the USF Sling and Shoot will help coaches guage the progress of their athletes and see how they stack up against competition and Coach Strickland is ready to find out about his team. "I want to see how competitive we can be on both sides of the ball," Strickland said. "If we can have some success and things fall in our favor we should have a pretty good run in the tournament."

Offensively, Isaac O'Neal is one of the players the coaches will be interested in seeing how much he has progressed. They want to see if he has a better understanding of the offense and his ability of reading the different defensive coverages he will face. They also want him to take care of the football and not to force throws that could lead to turnovers. Coaches will also be watching the progress of Vic McClendon and Carson Varney. Both receivers are expected to be major contributors in the fall.

Defensivley, Derek Lewis and Julani Harper are two newcomers that coaches are expecting to have a better understanding of the defense and expect to have a good tournament. Coach Strickland is also expecting Victor Troutman to perform well. "Vic is going to have to be able to lock down some of the states best players if he wants to be considered a true cover corner, " Strickland said. Troutman will have that opportunity as there will be an abudance of talent on hand Saturday.

KHSFootball.com will be providing full coverage of Saturday's event which starts at 9:45 AM. The event is free for spectators so Kathleen fans come out to USF and cheer on the team.