Mavs focus on building after William Blount road test
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Anderson County senior running back Jayzon Thompson moves past the scrimmage line and into open field during Friday night’s scrimmage at William Blount High School in Blount County. - Tony Cox
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Keshawn Mills capitalizes on a one-on-one situation with a William Blount defender during Friday night’s scrimmage at William Blount High School. - Tony Cox
Anderson County High School had its second football scrimmage of the preseason last week, and longtime Head Coach Davey Gillum was anything but pleased after the Mavericks’ matchup against William Blount in Maryville.
“It was frustrating overall,” Gillum said after Friday night’s scrimmage against the Governors. “It was sloppy.
“On defense, we had three or four busts in the back end,” he said. “We didn’t have our middle linebacker, Mason McMillan, and I don’t really know if that had anything to do with it. But he’s the quarterback of our defense. Coach will make a call and he gets people where they need to be and calls the strengths. That’s where I think we really missed him.”
Gillum had been upbeat after the Mavericks’ first scrimmage at home against Knoxville Halls on Aug. 1, but he said every outing is its own challenge.
“It wasn’t like we played awful,” Gillum said. “But if we’d played like we did the previous Friday against Halls, I wouldn’t have been happy about that, either. As a coach, you’re looking for constant and consistent improvement.”
Gillum felt the Mavericks lacked the spark they showed a week earlier.
“I don’t think we played with the same energy we had the previous Friday,” he said. “I don’t know if it was because it was our first game on the road, or because it was our first game after we had school all day. I don’t know what it was.”
While the defense showed room for improvement, Gillum said the offense had bright moments but still needs fine-tuning.
“Offensively, we played pretty well, but we had some three-and-outs because of busts, penalties and at least three dropped passes,” Gillum said.
