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Tuesday, July 1, 2008
7 on 7
Greater Louisville, KY
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Playing the off-season passing league has raised the caliber of football in Kentucky. But some adjustments are in the works.
“Spring football and 7 on 7 are two things that brought football to a level it’s never been before in Kentucky,” says Bob Redman, the head football coach at Male High School.
The University of Louisville holds a tournament every year that attracts teams from around Kentucky as well as other states. Greg Nord, who organized the U of L tournament this year, held June 7th, said his tournament hosted 53 teams, including squads from Texas, Virginia, Pennsylvania and Ohio.
“It’s good to be able to get the top programs and players on campus,” he said. “It’s also a huge benefit for a lot of teams.”
By competing in the non-tackle 7 on 7 tournaments, players get valuable off-season playing time and a head start on the regular season. “It has a direct impact on our quality of play. By the time we start practice (in August), I’ve got 70 percent of my offense in,” says Redman.
Two decades ago, Redman, along with then-University of Louisville football coach Howard Schnellenberger and then-assistant Gary Nord, thought it would help build the talent level of high school football in Kentucky if teams could compete in the specialized competition in June.
Redman has also hosted a tournament at Male every year since. This year’s Male tournament on June 14th featured three dozen teams from around the state. One year, Brett Favre of the Green Bay Packers came to the Male camp to give a clinic. For Redman’s Male teams, 7 on 7 represents a great opportunity to travel, as Male has played in tournaments over the years in places like Knoxville and South Bend.
Yet these additions to the football calendar can cause scheduling conflicts with athletes who want to also compete in summer basketball leagues, and AAU basketball coaches have said they feel the pinch.
So Kentucky’s football and basketball coaches may have a solution for the annual summer rite of battling each other for the services of talented athletes who want to compete in both sports. Last year, KHSAA, in conjunction with the football and basketball coaches’ associations, voted in a new rule that prohibits football team competition during June, and doesn’t allow AAU basketball competition in July.
This change means the annual 7 on 7 football competition will be moved to July, just before the start of fall practice in football.
Redman is not too pleased with the change in schedule. He says the new rule puts 7 on 7 competitions at the wrong time of year, saying July is too close to the start of fall drills, and could be a setback for the state’s quality of play in football. “I was shocked,” Redman says. “I don’t need the competition in July. Everybody’s fighting for kids.”
But coach Dale Anderson of Southwestern High School in Somerset says the rule change is meant to help kids torn between the two sports. Anderson thinks the 7 on 7 competitions will thrive in July.
“My thought is that 7 on 7 in July is closer to football season,” Anderson says. “Tennessee passed the same rule and it’s in effect this year. The coaches in both sports just got together to give kids an opportunity to play both in summer.”
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