Houston County football bears down in summer heat

WARNER ROBINS, Ga. — There’s a few ways you can tell it’s summer time in Georgia: The gnats are out, the kids are out of school, and high school football is just around the corner.

After a week off, the Houston County Bears are ready to get back to work, especially head football coach Jeremy Edwards.

“It’s an exciting time. After finishing up the semester, getting through all the finals and then taking a week off it’s exciting to get back out here on the grass with the guys,” Edwards said. “We kind of want them to miss it a little bit. They look like they’re fired up and ready to go and we’re ready to just keep chopping wood.”

Walking through the practices you could see coaches going over drills as well as players chopping it up and smiling as they went at each other — some even posed for pictures on the way back to their starting points.

Though a lot of their time will be spent on the field improving for the coming season, Edwards makes sure they still get to enjoy time off with their families.

“Monday through Thursday we go from about 7:15 a.m. to 11 a.m.,” Edwards said. “We feed them breakfast and lunch and then cut them loose for the day and let them enjoy their time with their families and enjoy being a kid. But when we’re here it’s go-time and it’s time to get the work done.”

Despite going 10-3 with some amazing offensive numbers last year, there’s always work to do, and Edwards stresses that to the kids every day.

“Our theme this year is to keep chopping wood. We want to make sure we’re always trying to get 1% better every day,” Edwards said. “The past is the past. Obviously it set a foundation for the program but we’ve got bigger goals for this year. We’re just exciting to keep going and to keep getting better every day.”

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