Union football coach Jordan Wren said the Yellowjackets got off to a good start this week as they finally got to put on full pads.
“I thought we had a good first week,” Wren said. “As young as we are, I feel like it was the best first week we have had since I have been here. I think that goes back to us repping a lot of the passing game in the spring and summer. We worked really hard on the passing game in May and June. And then we put in a lot of the run game in July. Since school has started, we have married everything together. It was a good week for us and we were able to get win some physicality.”
Wren said he was also impressed with his defense. The Yellowjackets finished the week with an intrasquad scrimmage on Friday.
“I thought the defense was good,” Wren said. “We are fast and experienced over there so there is nothing new there. We had a short whistle scrimmage on Friday and we had a 50-play scrimmage with one on ones. That’s a good number of plays to see how in shape we are. We got the chains out and put the kids in game-like situations. Our immaturity showed in some places. We just wanted to see how our kids would respond.”
Union will travel to West Lauderdale on Friday to scrimmage with the Knights. The two teams will play a half with starters and then a series with the junior varsity players.
“This will be more like a game week,” Wren said. “We will prep a little for West this week get the young guys used to it. It’s a different week and we have to get them ready for that. Everything gets slowed and we make sure what we are seeing. We have to line up to some different formations and play with our minds.”
The Yellowjackets will get a stern test from the Knights, who return a host of skill players but did graduate running back Ja’karius Grant, who rushed for 2,612 yards last year.
“They are loaded on offense,” Wren said. “They have lots of experience at the skill positions. They have the majority of their skill guys back from last year. They lost their main running back but I think the younger guy is better than Grant. They run power and counter and get in a lot of different formations. They will be a challenge for us.”
2022 UHS Football Schedule
Date Opponent
Aug. 19 at West Lauderdale (jamboree)
Aug. 26 at Choctaw Central
Sept. 2 at Scott Central
Sept. 9 Leake Academy
Sept. 16 at Newton County
Sept. 23 Choctaw Central
Sept. 30 at SE Lauderdale
Oct. 7 Enterprise
Oct. 14 Forest
Oct. 21 at Clarkdale
Oct. 28 Morton
