Sobrato football is entering the mandatory dead period with plenty to be excited about, said coach Albert King Thursday.
The Bulldogs will be a young team in 2013, but King said he’s seen growth over the past two months, capped off with a solid effort a Pacific Grove camp over the July 27 weekend.
“Camp was exciting. We got to see how far we’ve come since we spent time at a previous camp, which was exactly a month prior to that,” King said.
The Pacific Grove camp was a defensive skills camp that put into practice some of the items the team has worked on during June and July.
“We got to measure how much we’ve grown and we were very excited about what we’ve seen,” King said.
King said he’s seen a rise in maturity among his players, which is going to be key as the team with relatively few seniors must prepare to face more veteran squads.
“I think our young players have shown signs of maturing,” King said. “We’ve had some of our upperclassmen show some of the leadership that I’ve been looking for. They were leading not only by example, but by their actions on the field.”
King said he’s seen tremendous growth out of the offensive line, which will be the key to success as the team tries to grind out games.
“We expect some pretty big things from them.
King singled out Max Zhang, Andrew Mesa, Colter Bocksnick and A.J. King as players who have stepped up in their leadership roles.
“Honestly, just about every person who is on our offense and defensive line has shown something,” King said.
Mesa was especially singled out for his ability to rise to higher levels during practice and be an example to the rest of his teammates.
“Right now he’s just playing at a different level, a different speed and is everything we hoped he would be,” King said of his senior running back/safety.
After the break, King said he is especially excited because JoJo Nunn should be ready to play again, returning from an injury that has kept him out of practice this summer. Nunn is a returning senior who is slated to play corner and receiver.
“JoJo is just going to add a whole nother element to what we want to do offensively,” King said.
When practice picks back up on Aug. 16, King said the players will be expected to come to work each day.
“Summer fun and working around schedules, that’s over,” King said. “Now it’s time to put everything in practice. Once we get together, it will be totally organized practices. Not that they haven’t been, but everything is for a purpose. We will put kids through the wringer to get them ready for the Aug. 30 scrimmage.”
