Ty Leggett (31) is looking for running room with Kree Herring (45) in pursuit at Saturday's Packer intrasquad scrimmage in the new indoor facility.

MOULTRIE – When Ja’Michael Jones picked off a pass, he had a clear path to go all the way, but he didn’t get into the end zone. Why? For the answer, read on down.

Colquitt County High’s football squad held an intrasquad scrimmage in the brand-new indoor practice facility in front of a small gathering of fans, and with the electrical fans going it was quite pleasant inside on a warm Saturday afternoon. The Jones interception was part of a big day for the Packer defense, and it’s a unit that’s made some adjustments both in personnel, alignment and even coaching responsibilities going into the 2018 season.

For one thing, the role of defensive coordinator is a shared responsibility between Mo Dixon and Jeff Kent.

“I like what I see from my (players), our defensive coaching staff and our whole staff,” said Dixon after the scrimmage, which didn’t have score kept anywhere. “On our side of the ball we have guys who are doing an outstanding job. I’m tickled.

“What we have done is meld the 3-4 stuff with our package, the 3-5. Kent ran that with coach (Sheldon) Felton at Crisp County. (Head coach Rush Propst) threw all of us together, kids, the staff, and I feel really good about it.”

“You hate to feel like you’re ahead, but with these guys, we only lost three starters from last year’s defense, so we feel like we are ahead as far as making checks and identifying formations. Football IQ seems to be higher than what you would expect this time of year,” said Kent, who like Dixon is in his second season on the Colquitt staff. “When you feel like you’re ahead, that’s when somebody humbles you. It’s hard to say we’re ahead. But I feel like some of the things we’ve focused on are showing up. We have worked with it the past seven months, and we’re close to where we want to be.”

“This year, co-coordinating with coach Kent and with the ability to bring in a couple of other guys, it’s moving along,” said Dixon. “There’s a lot of things, not just play. It’s the lining up against whatever we see. When they come out in certain formations, we feel real comfortable. We have to clean up a lot of stuff, but it’s another year to grow.”

“Some days we’re a mature team. Some days we’re not,” said Kent. “We still make mistakes a team with this many seniors shouldn’t make. Who out there is perfect? It seems like once you get into a set routine, that maturity seems to show up more. We should be getting into that mindset the next week or two.”

In the scrimmage, there was unveiled for the first time before spectators a sophomore, Zy Brockington, on the first-team defense. That’s is not the surprise, but what was unexpected was seeing him play defensive end.

Brockington practiced with the varsity as a freshman as outside linebacker. The defensive coaches made a decision on him because of the loss of Nathan Bell for the season due to injury.

“He has a very bright future,” said Kent of Brockington. “With the depth at D-line, we had to bring Brockington down. It has been the right decision. He is making a lot of plays only to have been with (DL coach Seneric McCrudy) for two weeks.

“He needs to listen to (McCurdy),” said Dixon. “As long as he listens, he’s going to be a good one. He’s come miles.”

And it would be miles away before making any comparisons to last season’s All-American linebacker, JJ Peterson.

“JJ was awesome, and we’re all fired up about him,” said Dixon.

Now, why didn’t Jones get into the end zone Saturday? Trick question, because there was no end zone on that end of the field.

Yes, the new facility has one, on the left end looking at it from the highway, and this end also has the only netting with a goalpost design for Ryan Fitzgerald’s kicking. So Propst had most of the intrasquad drives for the first and second units going towards the end zone.

The defensive coaches saw some highlights, like linebacker Kendrick Neloms making a hit as a pass arrived to break up a possible third-down conversion.

Mar’Kaybion Spradley ran the football for both units, and he found a hole to move the chains for the first time. Quarterbacks couldn’t be tackled, so all they had to do was touch back-up Marvion McDonald to stop the first second-string drive.

Brian Merritt and Samari ‘Smoke’ Louis tackled Ty Leggett for 3rd-and-13, and on that snap Brockington got his first ‘sack.’

It was the second unit making the first sustained drive as McDonald’s dump off to Montavious Ponder on 3rd-and-11 moved the offense to the 42-yard-line. Three Spradley carries got the football over the 50, and McDonald added a first-down completion to tight end Max English on the 25. With linebacker Callon Kubiak helping fill a hole, the ball only got to the 20 on fourth down.

Daijun Edwards had two carries, and Marcus Anderson had two tackles. There were officials for the scrimmage, and they found defensive holding for first down by the first-string on the 40-yard-line (over the 50). Camari ‘Juicy’ Louis met Leggett on that spot and Brockington deflected a pass for third down. That’s when Edwards slipped through holes to the 19. Four plays later, all rushes, Spradley scored a four-yard touchdown.

McDonald connected with Lemeke Brockington on the longest play from scrimmage and a counter touchdown for the second-string.

Propst would later have drives start on the 1, where the offense had to go to the ’no end-zone’ end. The first unit only had one snap with Z. Brockington making the safety tackle.

Propst then went to a two-minute drill on the 20, going 80 yards to the end zone. Jaycee Harden completed three passes to Najarien McWhorter, Josh Hadley and Ja’Naz Graves one yard over the 50. Edwards ran 12 yards, and McWhorter’s second catch gained seven more.

The Packer special teams unit, though, blocked two field goals in the scrimmage, the first by end Kree Herring on a 46-yard try.

Defensive assistant Dextra Polite, during ‘halftime,’ pointed out there were to takeaways, but there still were stops for lost yards and at the line to start the second half. ‘Smoke’ Louis and Anderson stopped the first drive and Biron Silas had a ‘sack’ on the next. Jones gave Polite the takeaway to end this series, and he went 44 yards just to a goal line, where there was room to cross.

Propst set up 23-yard drives, one where ’Smoke’ Louis was on things again cutting off Leggett at a corner. Jay Ward blocked a 37-yard field goal try, and Propst said he hit the ball 1.18 seconds after the snap.

Spradley scored his second touchdown on an 8-yard drive, and Herring had a tackle for lost yards on an ‘overtime’ drive.

“Coach (Propst) said we’re going outside all week next week,” said Dixon. “The week after our (Corky Kell Classic) game (in Mercedes-Benz Stadium), a big advantage is going to be when that team from (Missouri) has to play in South Georgia.”