Blacksburg prepares for scrimmage

The Blacksburg football team will scrimmage themselves today at 7 p.m. in a spring game at T.A. Campbell stadium.

New coach Mickey Moss will let his 70 players run a limited form of the new offense and defense in the full contact scrimmage.

Players will be split evenly into two teams with no restrictions on tackling. The spring game is free and open to the public.

A former Blacksburg quarterback, Moss won't mind if he sees a few hard hits in the scrimmage. He is taking advantage of a new high school league rule that allows football teams to hold full contact practices and a spring game.

"We want our kids to have fun," Moss said. "We want to be a tough, physical team that tackles and blocks well."

The Blacksburg football team has practiced in full pads all week.

The final 20 minutes of Tuesday's practice were spent with offensive and defensive players battling in goal situations.

"Our players were really getting after it around the end zone. There was a lot of real good hitting going on," Moss said. "It's been a lot of fun. I have been really pleased with the kids effort. Our assistant coaches have really done an excellent job of teaching their positions this spring."

Coaches have installed the basic two back offense and 4-3 defensive scheme that will be used this season.

Moss, the team's offensive coordinator, will spend his time working with the offensive players on both sidelines. Defensive coordinator Tony Sullivan will coach the defense.

"We will work two groups on offense and defense in the spring game. We will substitute other players into the scrimmage," Moss said. "We already have a pretty good idea of our depth chart this fall."

The Blacksburg High coach will wait until August to name a starting lineup. He cites weightlifting and summer conditioning as priorities in the coming months.

"We still have a lot of work to do in the weight room," Moss said. "For the first two weeks being together, it's been very positive."