MOULTRIE – There’s more concerns about the health of five-star linebacker J.J. Peterson than how to finally beat McGill-Toolen in a 7-on-7 football game. As fun as the tournaments are – along with the joy of displaying a trophy like the one from the Kirby Smart 7-on-7 at the University of Georgia – Rush Propst was certainly glad on Monday with part of the summer being over for the Colquitt County High Packers.

Now, the coach wants to put full attention on real 11-on-11 football, and that’s what’s going to happen for the next three days at the old high school practice fields. The second organized team activity (OTA) padded camp of the summer begins today with three other schools in Moultrie: Collins Hill, Gainesville and Thomas County-Central.

It was at the end of last week that Propst took a majority of the Packer roster – skill players to be precise – to Hoover, Ala., for one of the USA Football National Championship 7-on-7 tournaments. After pool play Thursday and Friday, Colquitt County ended up with a 5-1 record and a No. 4 seed for the single elimination championship bracket.

“That’s the highest we’ve ever been seeded,” said Propst, whose made this trip an annual event of the summer. It’s a tournament he began as head coach at Hoover High School in 2001. “It’s become the elite 7-on-7 tournament in the country. It’s real competitive. I felt we played really well in pool play. What was a surprise was how well we played defensively.

“In the Corky Kell (7-on-7) we didn’t play very good defense. We played well the day before in Athens when we won it, but the next day I don’t know if it was lack of energy, but we just didn’t play very well.”

At Hoover, the Packers were fourth to Walton High, Dutch Fork, S.C.; and Thompson, Ala., in fewest points allowed during the pool games (77).

“We had to because we struggled some offensively,” said Propst. “I thought our quarterback played well for a while, then his foot was bothering him. That put more pressure on his arm, and his arm started bothering him a bit. Overall, I thought Steven (Krajewski) had a good tournament to start with.

“I like the way we played the whole thing without Cam Singletary and (Peterson). He would play around 10 plays a game because we didn’t want to stretch it.”

It was a groin injury that slowed Peterson. Propst said it turned out to be a worse situation than they first believed.

“We took him to the Andrews Institute while we were there,” he said. “We have some things to deal with him on that.

“Without him being full speed, for us to be in the quarterfinals was a successful tournament.”

For the second year in a row, Colquitt County was eliminated McGill-Toolen of Alabama. In the semifinals, McGill-Toolen lost to eventual champion Boiling Springs, S.C., which had the No. 25 seed. Hoover beat Thompson in the other semifinal, and No. 3 seeded Hoover fell to Boiling Springs 29-17.

“I think that’s the best we could have done,” said Propst about possibly getting to the semifinals. “We saw some improvement. I’m sort of glad 7-on-7 is over with so we can get back to real football. It was just something to do during the summer, and it’s competition.

“You get tired of practicing against yourself. It’s hard to come here and work all summer … every day in June, every day in July for the most part outside of the ‘dead week,’ and lift weights and run and practice against yourself. I think that’s why football numbers started to drop off. When 7-on-7 became popular, it gave kids a reason to come to workouts because there was immediate feedback. You didn’t have to wait until your first ball game in late August.”

With the arrival of a new 100-yard indoor practice facility on the Colquitt High campus, Propst said he is going to look at bringing 7-on-7 back to Moultrie.

“We’ll have the facility to have a great one here,” he said. “I don’t know if we’ll ever get to the level of what Hoover is because of the population, number of hotels and restaurants, the things they have there of a resource value. But I think we could have a qualifier for that, 16 or 24 teams and the winner earn an automatic berth to the nationals.”

In June, the Packers hosted a one-day OTA with Warner Robins, Jones County, Thomasville and Bainbridge. The OTA that begins tomorrow will run through Thursday with mostly 11-on-11 scrimmage situations. Because of the injury matters, Propst said he does not know how much Peterson or even Krajewski will participate.

“I’m not trying to win OTAs,” he said. “We’ve had more injuries this summer, lingering injuries from spring practice. I would never have thought we’d be as banged up at the end of summer as we are now.

“But the OTA to me is the best way to find out what your football team has. There’s some physicality to it, and you get to practice three days against somebody else. It’s basically team oriented stuff. There is some individual stuff, some 1-on-1. We’ll have a little bit of 7-on-7.”

With the injuries, it is a chance for younger Packers to get action in at least a scrimmage game situation and receive further evaluation of how they handle things. And to say there are young Packers in the program is not an exaggeration, for Propst has said the 2017 team will have the lowest number of seniors he can remember in 29 years as a head coach. 2017 will be his 10th at Colquitt County High.

“We’ve solidified some positions,” said Propst about answering those questions that cropped up after 2016 ended. “There are positions that will be solidified during camp. We will evaluate a lot during the OTA. When we get done Thursday afternoon, we’re done for the summer.

“Then it starts regular practice the following week. So we’ll make some definite decisions on who’s going to play what, who’s a starter, who’s a backup.”

Full pads practice begins Aug. 1, the Packers scrimmage Coffee High at home Aug. 10, and on Aug. 13 Propst said they will post the final depth chart.

“It’s an on-going battle in certain positions,” he said. “Linebackers, one of the defensive tackle spots. We have to get Kam Wood on the field. He’s showing his ability as a football player, and we can’t let him sit on the sideline. At the 7-on-7 he had a keen eye for the football.

“Offensively I think we found the five guys up front we want. Two spots are always up for debate. We’ll see in OTA how they perform and if there’s anybody on the football team who can beat them out. That goes for anybody’s position (except quarterback, where Propst said there is no real challenge for Krajewski’s job, and of course Peterson, whom Propst said has no match in terms of five-star talent).

“At the running back spot, (Ty) Leggett and (Daijun) Edwards are neck and neck. Who starts? I don’t think it matters. They are going to play an equal amount of time. Nigel Hillie has gotten back in the mold as a running back/nickel defensive back.

“To me, we have to have more kids ready to play this year than all the other ones put together. We do have a lot of players. We are a very young but talented football team. Experience does count for something, and we don’t have a lot of that. We’re going to have to gain some as we go.”