Football season is upon us

By Al Graning | The Natchez Democrat

Published Monday, August 11, 2008

Football season is here.

Mississippi’s three major college teams had scrimmages last Saturday, and the smaller schools also did, thought they were not as widely covered by the media.

The state’s Community Colleges are under way with pre-season workouts as well. High school teams did not get into pads until the weekend, so only a few had real weekend scrimmages.

I know that Madison Central, one of Mississippi’s biggest schools, had a regular scrimmage Saturday, with the first team offense going against the first team defense most of the time. In the case of the smaller high schools, most do not have enough players to scrimmage first against first, as so many of those players have to play both offense and defense.

The ongoing Brett Favre saga has reached at least a semi-complete stage. Brett has been traded to the New York Jets, which means that both New York professional football teams will be quarterbacked by men with Mississippi roots.

Though Favre’s worth to the Jets will not be known for some time, the team was sure enough of his value to go ahead and release former quarterback Chad Pennington, who was immediately signed by the Miami Dolphins. Even if the Jets do not make it to the Super Bowl, Favre’s abilities should get them into the play offs. That is where the money begins.

I remember that most Southeastern Conference football teams used regular officials for at least their final scrimmages before the regular season began. In all cases, at least one real ‘rules man’ worked those scrimmages, as a rules clinic was part of those practices. Few coaches and players keep up with the many rules changes each year, and the freshmen are faced with over 200 differences between high school and college football rules annually. I have ordered a book covering those differences, but it is so in demand that mine has been back-ordered.

The National Football League does much the same with their officials, but will usually send full regular-season crews to each team to officiate scrimmages and to explain rules. The NFL also has a set way to officiate each rule, so it is important that players become familiar with that. The SEC officials do not usually get in work with their full regular-season crew until the season starts. Even then, in many early-season non-conference games, newer officials are often assigned to work with a regular crew.

It was fun to read in the current “Bluffs and Bayous” about the White brothers who all play football. The oldest, Cap, plays for Millsaps and I recall seeing him on the Major’s roster at last year’s Millsaps vs. Mississippi College game. A brother plays for Belhaven, and the younger two brothers play for Craig Beesley at Cathedral. For travel purposes, it is good the older boys play for Millsaps and Belhaven and not at some school out in Oregon or Washington state.

This week’s statistics show that Vidalia’s Jarrett Hoffpauir is hitting .288 at AAA Memphis as the season winds down, while Natchez’ Nook Logan stands at .308 with independent Long Island. Congratulations to both of those young men for continuing their professional baseball experience.

Youth baseball has not quite gone away. I saw in the Clarion Ledger that a fall ‘wood bat’ league is forming for high school aged kids. For those who like it that much, it will be good experience, I guess.

And, That’s Official

Al Graning can be reached by e-mail at AlanWard39157@aol.com