SUMMER DRILLS: Catholic swimming in uncharted waters in 2024
Catholic quarterback JJ Williams sets up to throw at the recent ASU 7-on-7 camp. (Tim Gayle)
By TIM GAYLE
Summer workouts are a good place to gauge the development of younger players and those stepping into starting roles for the first time.
It’s also a good place to check the attitude of your players.
Catholic coach Kirk Johnson wasn’t very pleased with the Knights as they went through the early stages of the summer’s 7-on-7 tournament, including that at at Alabama State University a few weeks ago. He challenged his players to shift into a more competitive spirit.
“We live in a ‘right-now’ generation,” Johnson said. “Think about it. You can order something in China and have it in two days. So imagine trying to continue to build a successful program. I was told when you get to the top of the mountain, the hardest thing is staying up there.
“You’ve just got to find ways to continue to challenge them. Our standard and our culture has a lot to do with that, so hopefully we can sustain it by continuing to ‘up’ the standard.”
Johnson entered the competition like any coach would, anticipating how some of his younger players would respond to new roles, especially Kingston Preayear, who was getting the bulk of the workouts at quarterback, and JJ Williams, a backup last year who is also a valuable receiver for the Knights. Both are working to replace Capital City Conference Player of the Year Caleb McCreary, a four-year starter at the position.
“All your young guys, you want them to get some live action before it actually counts,” Johnson said. “I could give two pennies about winning a 7-on-7 or anything like that. But you want your young guys to get better.
“We’ve been fortunate enough the last couple of years to have won some, but we’ve also had a high-level quarterback that had seen everything under the sun. (Preayear’s) got to take his lumps and he’s got to grow up. He’s going to get some chewing outs, he’s going to get some things he’s not going to be happy about but it’s all about his growth.”
The Knights return the bulk of their defense from last year’s team that went 15-0 and captured the 4A state championship, but Johnson knows it takes more than talent to fight off the contenders. After watching the recent performance, he’s not sure his team has the hunger it needs to defend its title. Then again, he admits both he and his players are in uncharted waters.
“It’s very easy to be spoiled,” Johnson said. “And this is my first (championship), so I don’t know. We have to continue to try and raise our bar and challenge our kids and hold them to a high standard. Hopefully, that’ll take care of itself.”