Clint Thompson
CAIRO —
Cairo’s eight-team football camp continues to be a passing success.
Thomas County Central, Bainbridge and Valdosta joined the Syrupmakers and four schools from Florida to compete in 7-on-7 drills Thursday morning.
Thomas County Central coach Bill Shaver appreciated the way the camp was set up, allowing his team to compete against Leon, Wakulla, Munroe Day and Hamilton County.
“That’s the awesome thing about it, particularly for our defense, to see all these different styles of offense and teams we’re not going to play against,” Shaver said. “You kind of come in and really don’t know what you’re doing, so you have to learn to adjust on the run, which is sometimes going to happen to you in a game.
“I think it’s more awesome for our defense.”
Shaver, who calls Central’s split-back veer plays, liked what he saw from his receivers. Chris Dolford and Julius Reese delivered several nice catches and limited their drops.
“It actually started (Wednesday night) when we were throwing against ourselves. We felt like we got a little bit more consistent. Then today, we were much, much better,” Shaver said. “Maybe a little competition against somebody else kind of brings out the best in you. We had a few drops, but when you throw the ball as many times as you throw, you’re going to get a little bit of that. I thought we were much more consistent today catching.”
One position of concern for the Syrupmakers is quarterback. Cairo will be breaking in a new starter for the third straight year. Brandon McCrary started alongside the first-team running backs and wide receivers. Being a senior, McCrary has been in the program the longest among the Syrupmakers signal-callers.
Following Thursday’s camp, Cairo coach Fallaw was not ready to say whether McCrary’s play this summer had cemented the starting job. He is confident in McCrary’s ability, however.
“You’ll have those coaches who will sit here and tell you, you can decide who the quarterback’s going to be in 7-on-7 drills, but I’m not one of those. Taking snaps underneath the center and having the pressure on you, it’s totally different than this,” Fallaw said.
“We preach that to all the kids that if you sit here and you’re in the system for all four years, sometime your number’s going to be dialed. (Brandon’s) number’s definitely being dialed right now. He’s been around us and we think he’ll be ready.
“We’ve got another kid (Grant Latmore) that transferred in that is pushing him. We’ll see how it plays out.”
Central, Cairo and Thomasville will participate in a similar camp in Bainbridge next Thursday. The four Georgia schools will throw against four schools from Alabama. It’ll be the final tuneup before fall practice begins on Aug. 1.
