The Live Oak High football team participates in the Robert Graves Invitational Metro Baton Rouge Seven-on-Seven Summer League on Wednesday, June 15, 2022.
WATSON – Football teams around Livingston Parish have had to battle the elements with practice getting under way, and Live Oak isn’t any different.
The Eagles practiced at 6:15 a.m. Wednesday with the plan of coming back in the afternoon to finish up with special teams drills. That didn’t happen, however, because of lightning.
“If you’re not trying to beat the heat … you’re trying to beat the lightning, so we decided to practice early this morning …,” Westmoreland said Wednesday afternoon during the lightning delay. “We had a decent practice. We were able to actually practice, which was the first I felt like in a long time where we could actually get out there and beat lightning. It’s one of those things that we’re all unfortunately having to deal with during preseason. I think if you went around and asked all of us what the most important part is, we’re going to say the offseason and trying to get ready for that first ball game in September. Here we are practicing at 6:15 in the morning or going to the gym or going outside for 30 minutes and getting run inside. It’s just one of those things everyone’s dealing with it, so it’s not like someone has an upper hand on anybody. It’s just a different start to the season with the amount of lightning. I’ve never been under this many lightning delays that I can remember.”
Westmoreland said the Eagles have lost two days of practice so far to lightning.
“It’s to the point in the year where we have a standard practice plan, and on the other side, I have to print the lightning plan,” Westmoreland said. “It’s in the area. It’s getting close, and you know it’s about to be within our radius. We’ve got to move and skip some things to get everything done. I’ve never had to do that, but here we are.”
The Eagles started practicing last Monday, and Westmoreland said the workouts have been ‘spirited’.
“We’re still trying to push the tempo mindset of constantly move, move, move at a high rate,” Westmoreland said, noting the team is still working on a spread offensive scheme that was installed late last season and expanded in the offseason. “The kids are adapting well. You’re going from one philosophy to another. We’ve only had nine days of practice with pads on (including spring) under this new offense and under this new defense. Now the pads are on, and it gets a little hotter, and you’re still trying to push that tempo and get them accustomed to running to where they need to get to, looking back, getting the play and then getting set and snapping the ball as quickly as we possibly can.”
Westmoreland said he’s been pleased with the team’s retention of the new offensive schemes throughout the spring and summer, and he said some of that is a result of the team’s work in 7-on-7 play during the summer and film study.
“I’m not a big proponent of 7-on-7, but 7-on-7 really helped our guys learn the plays and realize what I do versus this coverage versus that coverage,” Westmoreland said. “There were some positives that came out of 7-on-7 this year that I would say I’ve never experienced before.”
That being said, Westmoreland said there are still some areas the Eagles need to work on heading into next Thursday’s scrimmage hosting St. Michael.
“We’ve got to communicate better on our offensive front,” Westmoreland said. “I really think that’s something that we need to focus on in the next week. It’s a young group that has one senior (Andy Rutecki). They’re starting to jell, but they’re still babies, so they’ve got to learn the communication side of things. Defensively, really just still kind of get in and learn exactly what we’re doing. ‘Hey, we need to run this coverage versus this, and we need to switch at this time, echoing the call down, so kind of a communication thing on both sides of the ball.”
Westmoreland knows the missed practice days may be working against the Eagles in preparation for the season but he’s also making sure they’re not completely lost.
“Come August 18th and the 26th and then the first regular season game, no one cares how many days you missed because of lightning and rain, so you better find a way to get your guys ready whether it is in the gym or through meetings or in the weight room,” Westmoreland said as the Eagles did some film study while waiting out the lightning Wednesday. “No matter what it is, no one cares how many lightning delays you’ve had to face. They just want to see those results.”
