NGU football team springing into training
Whitley Bras, Staff Writer
Photo Courtesy of North Greenville University
The football team at North Greenville University has been working hard since the completion of their fall 2017 season. This past season, they were able to finish 4-6 but they are looking for a better turnout for the upcoming season.
The head football coach, Jeff Farrington, said, “the 2017 season went not as good as we would have hoped but the guys played really hard. We had some injuries, lost some people to graduation but we have a good number of people coming back. We played a very tough schedule, so we had a lot of really good close games. We lost close games and we won close games.”
Since the season ended, the players have been hard at work in the weight room and have been training to improve their individual skills.
Football spring training started on Wednesday, March 14 and will go until April 5, when they will have their final spring scrimmage. During spring training, they will be working together as a team to improve in the weight room in order to become stronger as a whole. Farrington states, “We have a great group of guys and they’ve worked really hard. They put in a year’s work for each season and each season is certainly different.”
Although spring training is relatively short, the players will soon be involved with summer training. The coaches encourage the players to be involved with personal workout and to then come back on campus during the second half of the summer semester to get ahead on training, which usually lasts about five weeks. Then preseason training begins at the beginning of August until the fall semester begins.
When talking about the upcoming season, coach Farrington says, “we’re excited about this [upcoming] year. Moving into this year with the players coming back.” The football team will have nine starters coming back on offense and eleven coming back to play defensively.
The team always has certain goals and expectations when it comes to training and preparing for the upcoming season. There are usually feelings of excitement as well as nerves for the season, but what the coaches want is the ability for the players to grow and get stronger before the season begins. Farrington says, “Our goal is always to go out there and win every game.”
Although he says this, he breaks it down by stating that “there is a level of expectation as far as doing everything the best that you can … never look back but always look ahead. Try to support each other with a positive attitude. We don’t want circumstance controlling our attitude. To understand that each one of them has a role and everybody is valued. You’re not valued on how many plays you make. You are part of this family, so you’re valued.”
The coaching staff is excited to have the opportunity to share Christ with the football players at NGU. They want them to not only grow as a football player, but they want them to become stronger in their academics, character and faith and that is what truly makes the difference for North Greenville Athletics.
For the upcoming season, the football team will have the opportunity to play in the Gulf South Conference, which is the first time North Greenville has ever been in a Division II conference in football. Both the coaching staff and team are looking forward to the next season in the fall and hope to improve themselves both physically and mentally during the spring training and time before the season begins. Make sure to go out and support the football team in the fall 2018 season.
