PREP OTAs: Elmore County breaking in new players for 2026
Elmore County running back Tyler Payton dodges Trinity linebacker Wilson Cherry in Wednesday’s scrimmage at Trinity. (Tim Gayle)
By TIM GAYLE
Elmore County has a lot of new faces among its starters, but Panther coach Kyle Caldwell likes what he sees from his team this summer.
“We’re almost there,” Caldwell said. “I think, physicality wise will be the question when we put pads on. Can we be as physical as we’ve been this summer? Or can we be more physical when we put pads on? Because that’s what is going to win us or lose us games is at the line of scrimmage. Can we be physical enough to last 10 weeks and then hopefully into the playoffs?
Trinity and Elmore County squared off on Wednesday in an OTA, the second for both teams in as many days. On Tuesday, Trinity hosted Catholic for an OTA while Elmore County was playing Stanhope Elmore and Opelika.
“It’s kind of mixed reviews about the older guys,” Trinity coach Brian Seymore said. “I thought we changed fronts defensively some and missed some assignments up front, blocking schemes as far as the run game. In the pass game, we don’t have a lot of (throwing) deep concepts in right now, it’s more quick game and intermediate stuff, so we’ve just got to take what the defense offers. I think sometimes we kind of forced the ball a little bit but that (reading the defense) just comes with reps.
“But I like how we played when we go team, 11 on 11. We’ve done it both days, found a way to score both times with our first team against their defense. We did some good things, now it’s all about polishing.”
While Trinity will face Tallassee in an OTA on Thursday, Wednesday’s work closes out the game competition for Elmore County, which will practice next week, take the following week off from competition because of All-Stars Sports Week, then begin fall practice on July 27.
“I thought, going from yesterday’s OTA to today, better communication happened today,” Caldwell said, “so they learned from yesterday’s mistakes not to make the same mistake twice. And I thought we played with a little bit better of an edge today than we did yesterday.
“Proud of the effort that they showed today. We’re getting better. We got a lot of young guys stepping up, so that's exciting to see, and they're getting more confidence. Obviously, playing the quarterback position, you’ve got to have a lot of confidence so Kashon (Moe) is doing a lot better as well.”
Both teams are run oriented but the nature of an Organized Team Activity -- no pads and no tackling -- make the offenses rely a little more on the passing game.
“You’re going to pass it more in an OTA, but both teams want to establish the run,” Seymore said. “But without the shoulder pads, it’s something we talk about, as coaches, where we wish we could do something (with pads in summer workouts).
“But Coach Caldwell does a good job. He wants to establish the run game, I know that, but he ran a lot of spread stuff. He’s got a young quarterback, a first-year starter, and I thought (Moe) did some good things. I think they'll be in position to make a run in that region.”
Caldwell offered similar praise, thankful for the opportunity to face the Wildcats’ unique defensive scheme.
“We went over it a little bit this morning on the board, didn't show any film, but I thought our guys handled it pretty well,” Caldwell said. “And once they saw it a couple times in the inside run, they were able to adjust to what they were doing specifically.
“But I love what Coach Seymore does. It gives us a lot of looks, stuff to prepare for going into this season, so I like to give our guys a challenge, a little bit of a different look, just to see how they respond to adversity. I’ve got a feeling some more teams in our region are kind of going to that defensive system that his coaches run really well, so being able to see that early and get it on film is always helpful.”