SORSN: What can you tell us about the Oliver Springs team? Do they attack a lot on defense or “read and react”? Offensively, are they primarily a passing or a running team?
Craig: O.S. has an inexperienced but big and strong team. They had @ 17 seniors to graduate last season. They have returning starters 3 on offense and 3 on defense. Defensively they run a version of the split 4. They are big up front and blitz their LB’s often. Their secondary is basically a 3 deep with occasional man. Offensively they are a “I” formation team that likes to run the ball right at you. It will be a physical game. They throw the ball most often to # 1 (very fast).
SORSN: Will Jude O’Toole be back for this weeks game?
Craig: Jude has been going through some non contact drills this week. He went to the Doc last week and his collar bone has fully healed on the top and bottom. He still had a slight crack in the center. He goes back to the doctor on Thursday morning. It’s about 70%-30% that he will play. (according to him its 110%-0%) . It was 4 weeks on Tuesday & it was supposed to be 4 weeks.
SORSN: What do you think of Spencer Myers’ performance at QB against Jellico?
Craig: Spencer was great. He’s a player. He has the will to win of a champion. I would feel comfortable playing him at any position.
SORSN: Will the Midway defense continue to blitz heavily as they did against Jellico?
Craig: With our Defensive package we can bring numerous blitzes at any time. It depends a lot on what their offense is. We will blitz each week.
SORSN: With a large number of quality running backs, have you considered moving them around? For instance, chatter among the fence walkers is seeing #3 at Tight End.
Craig: We have thought of this, however, as long as Matt Campbell, Jason Crask & our sub linemen keep getting the job done at TE, I would like to rotate our backs to keep them fresh. We also have some different formations no one has seen yet using these players.
SORSN: When will we see the TE Middle Screen, that was so heavily used in the Travis Tilley era, return to the MHS attack?
Craig: We have that play out of our wing set. We will run the middle screen, as we used to with the TE, with our wing Daniel Bredwell. This was in the game plan for Rockwood and when players went down we weren’t able to run it. It’s on the board for OS, I hope we can save it for region play.
SORSN: During your tenure at Midway as a fan, player, and now coach, who would you say is one of the hardest hitting guys to ever wear the green and white? Tell us a story why you think this person(s) is.
Craig: Derek Gentry, Squirrel, Batman, Adam Thompson, Barry Narramore, Jude O’Toole, Clayton Taylor, Preston Moore, John Allen, Packy Woods all come to mind. But from the stories that Coach Branson and past players have told I would say Keith Adcox. They said that Keith broke 2 helmets, laid out at least one opponent per game, wasn’t allowed to hit in practice (he kept hurting his own players) and was an overall wild man. Keith was 5’8″ and 145 lbs. He played WR & Noseguard and was an animal on special teams. Coach Branson told me that in a game in the early ’80’s Keith come out of the game with blood all down the front of his jersey, Coach looked at his face and Keith had a tooth knocked out. The nerve was dangling from his gum. Coach was going to send him to the dentist and Keith sucking in a deep breath said “it doesn’t even hurt Coach, let’s win this game.” That’s tough!!
SOR – FDY