RISON - New Rison Coach Caleb Carmikle said he has seen some promise both offensively and defensively from his Wildcats over the summer, but there needs be a lot more consistency for them to take the next step to being a "good" football team.
High school teams across the state officially opened preseason drills for the 2023 season under the Arkansas Activities Association (AAA) guidelines.
Rison is less than two weeks away from traveling to Monticello to take on the Class 4A Billies in a scrimmage game at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 15. The Wildcats open the season by hosting the Dumas Bobcats at 7 p.m. Friday, Aug. 25.
Carmikle said that, overall, he has been pleased with the progress they have made over the spring and summer considering he and his staff have installed an entirely new offense and defense.
Rison was based in the runoriented veer during former Coach Clay Totty's 25-year tenure as head coach of the 'Cats. Carmikle uses a multiple offense that incorporates both the run and pass game mostly out of a shotgun formation. He said they have made some progress in the passing game.
"We had a good summer," he said. "I thought we had a lot of success throwing the ball at 7on-7's and at some team camps. Obviously, we didn't look very good today (Monday's practice). I think that heat got to us a little bit at the end. That's kind of what I challenged them on at the end of practice." Carmikle said there were moments during the summer where the offense would look really good one moment only to sputter the next.
"We've got to get more consistent offensively," he said. "There were times throughout the summer that we would look very explosive and then on the next drive we would stall out. We can't do that.
"And the same thing defensively. I think we're really close to being a good football team," Carmille said. "We've just got to get more consistent. It's a whole new system on both sides of the ball. It ...
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