In preparation for their first game of 2024, the College Station football team took a trip down Interstate 6 and then I-105 to Woodforest Bank Stadium to face Class 6A Conroe Oak Ridge in the Cougars’ only practice game.
The Cougars only had one scrimmage instead of two because they opted for spring training.
The teams played eight minutes, with each team’s first unit making as many plays as possible. Head coach Stoney Pryor said they made about 20 plays each during the break.
If a team failed to gain a first down, the turnover on downs brought the teams back to the 30-yard line. After this session, each team’s second offense ran as many plays as possible in an eight-minute session.
After that, the teams worked as special teams without any pressure from the defense.
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“The first couple of series we played our ones and then we started bringing some guys in,” Pryor said. “I mean, there’s a delicate balance point, you need your ones to get a lot of reps, but also with some of these guys you probably have a pretty good idea of what they can do.”
They then had a tense half. College Station did score more points in the quarter, but the final score can be deceptive in a practice game, Pryor said.
“You don’t know who your team or their teams are playing against and you just don’t get a real feel for it,” he said.
On defense, the Cougars return five regulars, a unit that Pryor was keen to see in action against Oak Ridge.
“Especially as the scrimmage game went on, we saw better and better things,” Pryor said. “A couple of times we got beat on a deep ball, but I think especially as the scrimmage game went on, as we got into the quarters, they rose to the challenge and did a great job up front of giving the quarterback very few opportunities and time.”
A standout offensive player during the offseason was wide receiver Zak Cosser, who broke free several times during the practice game.
“We think we can use him as a wideout but also as a slot receiver,” Pryor said. “He can get moving. He can beat you on a fade or a post, but he also has good footwork so he can fool you into thinking he’s running a fade or a post and it turns out to be a dig or a comeback or something. He takes the best of it and does it really well. I think his speed might fool some people a little bit, but he’s versatile and like I said, in the inside receiver role or outside receiver role, he’s got good hands and good routes.”
Pryor said the quarterbacks had a high completion rate and the offensive line gave the signal-callers an opportunity to make throws. On defense, Pryor felt the line had gotten better and provided more support to the secondary.
“I told the guys afterward that there are two great times for a team to develop. The biggest opportunity for improvement is between the last practice game and the first game. In this case, it’s our only practice game and the first game,” Pryor said. “But that’s often where you see teams really improve dramatically because now they’re not playing against each other. They’re playing on a different team and they see things.”
The Cougars open the season Friday at 7 p.m. at Cougar Field, hosting state-ranked team Klein Collins.
“I challenge them that we need to see major progress between this scrimmage and next week because this is a chance to really get our team closer to its peak performance,” Pryor said. “I think our peak performance is high, but we’re not. We’re not even scratching that right now. So that’s not a concern because it’s still early in the year, but we need to make sure we close the gap between where we are and where we could be.”
