Indians get course on no-huddle

Photo by LARRY HILLIARD New passing coordinator Perry Woolbright demonstrates the proper throwing mechanics during Tuesday's spring practice session. The Indians will don the pads for today's spring drills. Gaffney football coach Phil Strickland doesn't have much to prove after capturing three state titles in five years.

But that hasn't stopped the highly successful coach from looking for ways to stay ahead of the competition.

That's the reason why Strickland and new passing game coordinator Perry Woolbright are using spring practice to install the no-huddle.

"We just started out," said Strickland prior to Tuesday's spring practice session. "It will be a learning process, but it's not hard to learn. The kids really don't understand it right now. It will just take awhile to get in."

Strickland said fans are confusing the no-huddle with the hurry-up offense.

"Nobody said we would be in the hurry-up," he said. "Sometimes we'll snap it early and sometimes we'll take all 25 seconds. The intent (of the no-huddle) is to check off at the line of scrimmage."

"The biggest difference is that it takes away from the quarterback and puts it back on the coaches to call the right play. Instead of the quarterbacks having two or three checkdowns on plays, the quarterbacks will simply read what the defensive backs do."

Using the no-huddle doesn't mean the Indians will scrap their offensive philosophy and terminology and become a pass-dominant team.

"I like what we've done in the past," Strickland said. "We still want to be balanced. We will still run multiple formations. We aren't going to be in four wideouts all the time."

But the move to the no-huddle will allow the Indians to counter the new defensive trends.

"Defenses were sometimes dictating what we were doing," he said.

The Indians lose eight starters on defense but return most of their skill players at quarterback, running back and wide receiver.

"All the positions are open, but we have experience at running back, quarterback and wide receiver," he said. "We'll be running a lot of the same plays."

About 140 players have been participating in spring drills. The Indians opened spring drills last Thursday with a series of speed and agility drills.

"We have some kids with speed," he said. "We aren't as fast as we were a couple of years ago, but we have some bigger kids."

The Indians will don full pads today.

Notes ... Strickland has announced his passing league schedule for the summer. The Indians will compete in the Clemson passing camp on June 14 and host Laurens in a passing league on July 8. The Indians will travel to Presbyterian College for a oneday camp on July 14 and will participate in the FCA passing camp at USC-Upstate from July 17-19.