Blue Devils eager to start the football season

GAMBIER, Ohio – We’re just 13 days away from the start of high school football two-a-days and Zanesville is looking for a fresh start after a 2-8 season last year.

Tuesday, the Blue Devils took part in their second of three 7-on-7’s they have this summer. Zanesville was at a four team 7-on-7 at Kenyon College with Wadsworth, Clear Fork, and Mt. Vernon.

“We’re a young team. We play a lot of sophomores, a lot of juniors, and a couple seniors. We’ve got a lot of brand new people out there so we’re still making some mistakes. So we’ve got to clean that stuff up and we use this time for that,” said Grandstaff.

Grandstaff said that it’s hard to judge teams at 7-on-7’s. There is no tackling, no pads, and no offensive or defensive lines. However, the coaching staff still can learn a lot about their football team at these practices.

“7-on-7’s are a little different. Obviously it’s not real football. But we like to do them to get our athletes on the field and see what they do in one-on-one situations. We like to see who can compete and who can make plays and who hustles for all four seconds that the play is going on,” said Grandstaff.

Zanesville has one more 7-on-7 this summer at Dublin Coffman High School. High school football two-a-days start on July 31.