RISON - For those who were curious if new Rison Wildcat Football Coach Cale Carmikle would open up the offense a bit, they got their answer in last Thursday's Black and Gold scrimmage game at George Walker Field of Champions.
The 'Cats were in the shotgun for every snap throughout the 50-plus play scrimmage, and threw the ball 23 times. Eight of those passes were completed for roughly 320 yards and five touchdowns.
Carmikle, who officially describes his offense as "multiple," had the 'Cats line up in a variety of formations out of the shotgun, ranging from two-back sets to four wideouts. The quarterback was never under center, and Carmikle would often signal in plays from the sideline without a huddle.
It was a stark contrast to what the Wildcat fans saw under former Coach Clay Totty, who developed a reputation for a bruising rushing attack using the split-back veer during his successful 25-year career at Rison that included two state championships. Totty stepped down in December to become head coach for the Class 5A Wynne Yellowjacks.
The scrimmage pitted the no. 1 offense/defense against the no. 2 defense/offense. Owen Morrison, a rising senior, played the majority of the snaps for both the first- and second-team offenses.
Morrison completed eight of his 22 pass attempts for 320 yards and five touchdowns with no interceptions. Zakyler Walker was on the receiving end for all five of those scores, going for 70, 60, 58, 55 and 50 yards. Most of those touchdowns came off screen passes.
It was also easy to see there is still work to be done with the passing game. There were a couple of possible touchdown passes that were dropped, and there were some timing issues on a couple of crossing routes as well. Carmikle said those issues can be cleaned up with practice.
While the 'Cats were chunking the ball a lot in the scrimmage, Carmikle said the running game will still be the primary focus of their off...
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