MOULTRIE – This is not a rehashing of the spring football practice look ahead at Colquitt County High School.

The calendar flipped to June, spring drills were completed less than two weeks ago, but one development has occurred that is concerning to head coach Rush Propst. Just like in the spring, when Propst could not get a solid commitment on a spring scrimmage game against another school, he is looking at getting into the 2018 season without a similar type of fall contest to prepare for the Aug. 18 opener at the Corky Kell Classic.

The Packers will not be playing Coffee High – who has been their preseason foe at least the past two seasons – on Aug. 4; instead, that day will see another intrasquad scrimmage like the two Colquitt held during the spring. Propst said there was a deal in the works for a team from Florida to play the Packers in Moultrie on Aug. 11, but that fell through.

“Right now, the negative, we don’t have a fall game,” said Propst on Monday. “It’s very disturbing to me that I can’t find one. (Coffee) is playing somebody else. I’ve asked everybody. I’m trying every day to find somebody to play.

“I shutter at the notion that we are going to play McEachern on Aug. 18 without playing a ball game. That’s our first time to come together as a football team; that’s very scary to me. McEachern has a game on the 10th. I don’t know what else to do.”

This happens, Propst said, after four schools backed out on playing Colquitt in a spring scrimmage.

“On Aug. 18, it’s going to be a heck of a football game between us and McEachern,” he said. “Two heavyweights slugging it out. We’re going into it blind.”

THE SUMMER STARTS

The 7-on-7 schedule for Colquitt begins Thursday when the Packers play at Auburn. Then, on Friday, it’s the Corky Kell 7-on-7 at Roswell Area Parks. This will be the biggest field ever for the Kell 7-on-7 with 35 teams and prospects galore. Those familiar to the Packers in the last two playoff runs are linebacker Owen Pappoe of Grayson and receiver Dominick Blaylock of Walton. Colquitt won this event two years in a row (2015-16).

“It’s very good competition and well run,” said Propst. “It’s becoming an elite tournament.

“We will go to Hoover (Ala.) again in July. This will probably be the last year we go over there. I could see that starting to lose its grip. I think it will still be good this year, but it was alone as the No. 1 national tournament for years. I started it back in 2001, the first to start in the country. It grew to as many as 48; now I think they are down to 34. It’s going to take a monumental task to keep that going.”

Propst pointed out that Brandon Sheppard, who was the executive director of the National Select 7-on-7 Championships, is now associate director of football operations at the University of Tennessee.

“I think we need three,” said Propst about 7-on-7 participation. “A lot of teams go to five or six, one a week.”

The summer also includes two padded camps, or OTAs, the first being June 27-28.

SPRING RECAP

“Spring went good,” said Propst. “We got a little banged up in the end, but all healable stuff.”

Linemen Brian Merritt, Nathan Bell, Will Rykard and Kam Barnes all did not go through spring drills, but Propst had said they would be cleared for workouts that began Monday.

“We didn’t have any serious injuries through spring that a player can’t play through,” said Propst, noting cornerback Nyquann Washington was one who still may be sore from what he suffered. “We got some things done. We established some things. We’re still a raw material, and in my opinion we still got a long ways to go in a lot of different areas.

“Obviously, you have to be pleased with our run game. When we get Rykard and Barnes back, we’re going to be better in the run game. You have two elite backs (Daijun Edwards and Ty Leggett), then you have two more backs (including Mar’Kaybion Spradley).

“The quarterback spot is key.”

Propst said last year’s backup, rising junior Jaycee Harden, had the No. 1 spot going into spring. On Monday, he called the competition “wide open” and that the month of June – with the 7-on-7 tournaments and organized team activities (OTAs) – will give them more information on where to go with that position. Receiver Marvion McDonald, heading into his senior year, also took quarterback snaps in both practice and intrasquad action.

“We will reassess on (June 29),” said Propst. “We’ll meet before the Cam Erving Camp and discuss the quarterback situation, where we are at the end of June.

“Personally, I would like Jaycee to win the job. I think it hurts us receiver wise with Marvion being that experienced receiver. But obviously, we have to do what we have to do. Who will our team rally around and who can push the buttons to make our team go? Who will manage the game and not get us beat? To me, it’s about game management. We have some weapons.”

Propst went on to rave about senior tight end/H-back Josh Hadley, who caught the touchdown that gave Colquitt the lead in the 2017 Class 7A finals with 49 seconds to play. The coach said Hadley, who is following a long line of college players like John Samuel Shenker and Shaun Bonner, may have the best athletic ability at that position with making the catch and then the turn and run to the end zone.

“The two things he needs to do is get better in are his blocking and getting faster in his speed work,” said Propst. “We’re spending a lot of time on that this summer.”

The Packers have one other experienced receiver in KT Wilson, a senior. There’s also senior Ja’Naz Graves, then everyone else is young and has not yet seen the varsity game field. Inside receivers are senior Tyrique Williams and junior Tyler Walker.

“There’s two types of H-backs,” said Propst. “There’s H-back in space we call H, and then that guy who’s in our backfield … it’s more of a pure fullback, whatever you want to call him. That’s Hadley. Carter Boatwright’s stepped up, and Remon Young and Mac English.”

So depth may be the real word to put as the ID tag on the 2018 Packers in football, especially on offense. Even up front, Colquitt had players to get work in with the injury issues. Propst said he can’t remember this much depth up front.

“There’s probably three, four other kids on our No. 2 line who will end up being solid players but not starters,” said Propst. “That’s the first time we’ve ever had that. We’ve struggled to find five. Now we have seven to eight, which is a good problem to have.”

Washington and Jay Ward give Colquitt a cornerstone at cornerback, both with SEC offers (Ward a senior and Washington a junior). Propst said Kam Woods is as athletic a safety as they’ve had. Kendrick Neloms made play after play in the intrasquads at linebacker, and he will man the middle with senior prospect Marcus Anderson and leading tackler Rashad Revels.

“They’re backups are outstanding, too,” said Propst. “Zy Brockington will play linebacker and also D-line. We have eight linebackers to play three slots.”

Two positions on the Packer defense are called nickel and dog, and four guys are in that mix. The most experienced are seniors Camari ‘Juicy’ Louis and Akeem McKiever. Propst said a backup like Samari ’Smoke’ Louis would be a starter anywhere else.

“There are times we may play with extra DBs because of their abilities,” said Propst. “Really, our backup safety is our biggest issue. If we had to start tomorrow it would be JuJuan Williams or McKiever.”

Propst has known what he can get from Merritt up front on defense for two seasons now. For three spots, Propst said each one could be three deep on varsity.

It seemed to be an interesting bit of humor that Colquitt’s No. 1 issue in the offseason would be to replace the long snapper. Noah Hightower handled that so well – and that was his one job – that he has a chance to play at Shorter University. The All-Everything kicker Ryan Fitzgerald, though, needs good snaps for field goals and punts, and Propst feels they solved the mystery with Kaleb Spradley and Max Parker. He said Spradley, who missed last season to injury, might be the main snapper moving away from his original position on the line.

“We have not decided on a punt returner yet,” said Propst, a spot vacated by college-bound Cam Singletary. It could be either Leggett or Graves, both of whom will go back for kickoffs.

“I’m not calling it an Achilles heel yet, but the quarterback spot’s got to develop,” said Propst. “That and finding a legit punt returner are the only two issues we have right now. Everything else is settled for the most part. A few things could change, but that’s where we are. Going into summer, this is day 1 and I didn’t see anything different.”