Peacock impressed with new coaches
Posted on Thursday, May 15, 2008
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/brog/Sports/60265/
ROGERS — There are some new faces around Rogers Mounties football camp this spring and some familiar ones as well.
The Mounties have added four new coaches to the staff this spring, including former assistant and current sophomore campus principal Larry Ben, who will be coaching the defensive line.
The Mounties have gotten their first look at three other coaches this week as they concluded their third day of spring practice Wednesday.
Former Waldron head coach Alan Rettmann has been hired as the Mounties’ ninth grade football coach after spending the last 11 years as the Bulldogs’ head coach.
Rettmann helped Waldron win its conference championship for the first time in 49 years in 2003 and was 44-68 as the school’s head coach. He also served 11 seasons as the defensive coordinator at Arkadelphia.
Rettmann will coach the ninth graders and also serve as a varsity assistant for Friday’s games.
“ Alan Rettmann’s been around a while, ” said Rog- ers head coach Ronnie Peacock. “ He’s still got a passion. I think we’re fortunate to have him with the experience that he’s had. He came into Waldron into a pretty tough situation. I like people that can turn programs around like that. I can kind of identify with him. ”
Also joining the Mounties as a defensive coach is Kent Mc-Cullough, who served the last three seasons as a graduate assistant at Missouri.
McCullough was a punter for Miami of Ohio from 1997-2000 and dabbled with a few NFL teams after college, going to camp before the 2001 season with the Cincinnati Bengals and Detroit Lions and also garnering interest from the Washington Redskins, Houston Texans, Philadelphia Eagles and New England Patriots.
McCullough was an assistant coach at Troy (Ohio ) High School before earning his Master’s degree at Missouri. He’s expected to coach outside linebackers and special teams.
“ He’s very impressive as a young coach, ” Peacock said. “ He got glowing recommendations from Missouri as to how good of a worker he was. ”
Steven Hampton, who coached at Benton last year, and has coached in Texas and as a graduate assistant at Central Arkansas, joined the Mounties’ staff as backs and receivers coach. All three hires are expected to be approved at the next Rogers Public Schools Board Meeting on Tuesday, May 19. The Mounties are still in search of one more defensive coach for the varsity staff, a ninth grade assistant and an eighth grade assistant, Peacock said. Former Rogers football players Chase Orr and Johnny Brewer will serve as volunteer assistants this spring as will Kevin Collie, who’s a graduate student at the University of Arkansas. This season will mark Brewer’s fourth as a volunteer assistant.
• • • The Mounties have around 140 players participating in spring drills though several key names are not with the team. Senior running back Michael Tibbs, senior receiver Austin Young and junior receiver Casey Caton are all still in track season, while linemen Matt Fryauf, Charles Robbins and Dustin Corey are recovering from knee injuries.
Offensive line coach Rob Bray expects all three linemen to be ready come August.
The Mounties did get junior quarterback Andy Couture back for good after Rogers’ baseball season ended.
So far, the Mounties haven’t gotten too complicated with their schemes, Peacock said.
“ We’ve tried to tone down, ” he said. “ We’ve only got just a few running plays and just a few passing plays from an offensive standpoint. Obviously what you try and do in the spring is return to basics and fundamentals. Get good at what is your core offense. As you learn and get that down, you get more complicated and try to do some other things that you need to do to make you better. ”
Peacock likes the depth the Mounties have at running back with Tibbs, senior T. J. Jordan, who’s recovered from a broken collar bone, and sophomore Brandon Austin. The trio combined for 1, 042 rushing yards in Rogers’ 6-4 season in 2007.
Peacock also likes the talent at wide receiver, led by Young and Caton, who had 348 and 238 receiving yards respectively last year. “ We’re probably faster than we’ve ever been as a group, ” Peacock said. Defensively, the Mounties are led by senior linebacker Caleb Hill, who is the leading returning tackler with 65 total tackles last year. The Mounties graduated several starters and are looking for players to step up and fill those spots, Peacock said. “ That’s what you do in spring practice, ” Peacock said. “ There’s some pressure on some people to come through. If you’re going to be a Mountie and are going to start, now’s the time to let us know. ”
• • • Schools are allotted 10 days to practice in pads in the spring. The Mounties will practice the rest of this week and spring practice will conclude next Friday with the Blue-White game.