First Sumter Item Media Day opens door to thoughts of coaches, players

The first The Sumter Item Media Day was held on Wednesday, and it was a smashing success. Both the coaches and the players from the 12 schools in Sumter, Clarendon and Lee counties that play high school football were engaging. They tried their best to afford some insight to the questions presented to them.

And, as one might expect, there were some answers provided that were interesting and engaging, that we may have never found out in another forum.

Following are five things we learned during what i hope was the first of many media days.

TIMELY HITTING

When Mark Barnes came to Sumter High School as head coach four seasons ago, he brought a reputation of having hard-nosed football teams. He doesn't believe that has changed during his time in charge of the Gamecocks.

"I think people would characterize us as being an extremely physical football team, and our defense is more physical than our offense," said Barnes, who led SHS to a 9-3 record and the second round of the 5A state playoffs last season. "That's what we hang our hat on."

However, Barnes pointed out that earning that reputation doesn't necessarily mean a team has to have knock-down, drag-out hitting in practice to achieve that physicality.

"What people would find funny with football under attack with the CTEs, concussions and all that stuff, our players will tell you we do very little hitting in practice. It's a mindset to us; it's an expectation on our (coaches) part, it's an expectation on their (players) part.

"We're not a big contact team in practice. We do it in spurts of 10 minutes, and make sure they know what to do. A dog will bite; they don't have to keep biting you to prove it to you. Once you learn to be physical, you don't have to keep practicing it. It's a mindset."

HOMECOMING HOMECOMING

Before coming to Scott's Branch after one season at Blythewood, Brian Smith was the head coach at C.E. Murray in Greeleyville. In 2015, he led CEM to a 12-2 record and a runner-up finish in the 1A Division II state playoffs.

As the new Scott's Branch head coach, Smith will get a chance to coach against his old school. Scott's Branch and C.E. Murray -- both bearing the nickname of Eagles -- play in Region V-1A.

Smith will have a homecoming of sorts on Oct. 26 when Scott's Branch travels to Greeleyville for the regular-season finale. It will be homecoming for CEM, and Smith isn't quite sure what to make of that.

"As far as playing C.E. Murray, I've thought about it a little bit," Smith said. "They made us their homecoming team, and these guys (his players) don't appreciate it that. If I were them I'd probably change that date, but it will be interesting for sure.

"We'll be ready for region play and C.E. Murray too."

WEEK MINUS 1?

Laurence Manning Academy won't be opening its season on Week Zero on Aug. 17. The Swampcats also won't be opening their season on Week 1 either, which is Aug. 24.

What gives? LMA will be traveling to Montgomery, Alabama, on Friday, Aug. 10 -- yes, this Friday -- to play Lamar Academy, the Mississippi independent school 4A state champion.

Laurence Manning head coach Robbie Briggs said he was approached by South Carolina Independent School Association athletic director Mike Fanning and new executive director Spencer Jordan, the former headmaster at LMA, to play the game.

"Yeah, we'll play anybody, anywhere." Briggs said. Lamar is very similiar in terms of resume to Hammond (which has won nine of the last 12 SCISA 3A state titles). We said, 'Certainly, we'd love to.' "

Briggs said the team will leave for Montgomery early on Thursday morning and will have a couple of walk-through practices before playing the game at 4 p.m. on Friday. Briggs admits there is a bit of concern about his team playing an afternoon game.

"A lot of guys don't understand what it takes to play a 1 o'clock, 12 o'clock or 3 o'clock game. We work pretty hard though, so we made some concessions for that. We're excited about the opportunity."

NOT NECESSARILY IN THE NUMBERS

Randy Stogner will be in his first season as the head coach at Thomas Sumter Academy. After over three decades as an assistant coach at Crestwood and Manning high schools, both of which consistently have high number of players, he will be making an adjustment at TSA

"We've got a numbers game we're playing. We've got 20 players," Stogner said when asked the reason he had players listed at multiple positions. "For Mason (Warren) and Tyler (Millwood) to both be quarterbacks, it's a necessity because we're gong to to have to have players play multiple positions. We' just can't go back to the bench and grab another wingback. We're teachng them more than one position."

Stogner isn't letting the numbers deter his enthusiasm.

"Back when David played Goliath, I bet the bookies lost a lot of money that day," he said.

THE BEST ROUTE

Joshua Simon is the major passing target for the Crestwood Knights. Last season, he caught 39 passes for 825 yards and 10 touchdowns.

Simon said the reason for his success is he likes to mix things up with his route running.

"All depends on what route we have." Simon said. "I like to learn how to do different things off of different routes, learn how to run a route more than one way.

"t all depends on the alignment. I like to make adjustments sometimes. If I'm over on your (the opposing) sideline, I can hear what the coach is telling you to do."