Manning wants more

By Jeff Johncox
The Norman Transcript

August 30, 2008 01:44 am

— Just like Norman High coach Greg Nation, Norman North coach Lance Manning was upset with his team’s mental errors after its most recent scrimmage.
The preseason ended for both squads Thursday night, with the Timberwolves hitting the field in Mustang for the annual Pepsi Pigskin Preview.
North was on the field in the afternoon for a scrimmage-type situation against Lawton MacArthur and Lawton Eisenhower, then hit the turf again at 9 p.m. for a simulated half with Midwest City.
“We didn’t really play very well at all,” Manning said. “I thought we were a little flat, wore down, uninspired.”
The Bombers outscored the T-Wolves 14-0 in the half.
“Midwest City played like they had a lot to prove, with a lot of excitement,” Manning added.
It was the mistakes that hurt North the most.
After a drive down to the Bomber 3-yard line, the T-Wolves were called for offsides, then fumbled the ball.
“We didn’t make some plays,” Manning said. “I’m really not worried. I think we have a really good football team. Watching film reinforced that. It’s just the mistakes we made.”
Still, Thursday’s problems didn’t happen in a regular-season game. It’s not that dire a situation.
“It was just a scrimmage,” Manning said. “But it got our attention. I’ve told them we have to be more disciplined and pay attention to details.”

Working hard
Manning said one reason his team might have made some mistakes Thursday night is because the players have been working so hard.
After faltering toward the end of last week’s scrimmage at Edmond North, Manning and his coaching staff focused heavily on conditioning this week, especially since it was finally hot outside.
“It might have been a little case of the deadlegs through all the lifting and running we’ve been doing with them,” Manning said Friday. “We’ve been taking a Monday like we do a Wednesday. In fact, we’re about to go to practice right now and we had the scrimmage last night.”
But the T-Wolves are likely to back off a bit from the heavy practice schedule with next week’s Crosstown Clash looming large.

Nice backfield
With shifty tailback Coory Freeman, who’s strong and quick despite his 5-foot-5 stature, tight ends, who work more like fullbacks, Ronnie Herron and Alec Wilkinson, and a couple of quarterbacks who can run the ball in Trenton Wright and Chad Anderson, it looks like the Tigers will have some luck on the ground this season.
All the aforementioned players had nice runs Thursday night against Putnam City North.

Getting pumped
Most high school players, sadly, stop paying attention once their portion of the scrimmage is over. They wander the sidelines, talk about anything but the game, sit on the bench or stare blankly at something in the distance.
But NHS’ junior varsity guys were pretty enthusiastic while the varsity was on the field Thursday at Putnam City Stadium.
While the Tigers were out for their defensive plays, the sidelines erupted with chants of “De-fense (thump, thump). De-fense.”
And when NHS had the ball?
“Off-ense (thump, thump). Off-ense.”
It was good to see the younger guys in the game, even if they weren’t in the game.

Busy man
NHS athletics coordinator Trey Selmon is a fixture at as many Tiger sporting events as he can get to.
He’s always at Harve Collins Field, at the NHS Gym, at visiting gyms, at the NHS soccer and softball complex, at Tiger Stadium. There might actually be three or four Trey Selmons out there.
Not only does he attend all those games, and run the athletics department, but he’s been helping out the past two seasons coaching the Tigers’ defensive linemen.
“I love it,” he said at Thursday’s scrimmage. “Coaching is great.”
And he’s not afraid to get in a guy’s face after a missed tackle, or to let a player know he’s available to help him learn the defensive playbook during his lunch hour.
“There’s only one way I know how to do it,” Selmon said of his in-your-face coaching style.

Getting some work
Everyone knows Tyler Tettleton is North’s quarterback. But the good thing about the Pigskin Preview?
Since the No. 1 squad was held off the field until the night’s simulated half, that gave the twos and threes time to play in the scrimmage portion.
That meant Josh Norton, who starts at wide receiver for North, got some time to shine under center.
“I thought we played really well during the day portion,” Manning said. “Josh Norton got a lot of reps at quarterback.”
And those reps can only help. It’s always good to have a backup quarterback ready to go.

Ladner’s back
Zach Ladner, who spent the summer recovering from a Jones fracture on the outside of his left foot, hit the field Thursday night for the first time this preseason.
Ladner didn’t play the full scrimmage, but he got a lot of work in and had the most pristine looking uniform of any player on the field.
“That’s because he hasn’t practiced in it,” one teammate quipped.
As for the foot?
“Oh, it feels great,” Ladner said. “I’m not having any problems with it. Right now, I’m just trying to get back into football shape. It was just good to hit people again.”
Jeff Johncox
366-3535
jjohncox@normantranscript.com