Spring drills come to a close for Ada football team

May 25—The Ada High School football team wrapped up spring drills with a spirited practice session Wednesday afternoon inside the Craig McBroom Football Complex.

It capped off a series of eight spring workouts under the watch of new head coach Wade Boyles and his revamped coaching staff.

"Our coaching staff has done a fantastic job this spring of bringing the energy and teaching new terminology and just doing the things they needed to do to help us move forward as we head toward the football season," Boyles told The Ada News. "We have a lot of new guys down here that are installing and teaching terminology and all of those guys have done a great job."

Former Ada High School standout Chad Roark returns home as the new defensive coordinator and former East Central University assistant coach Joe Foster will assume the duties as the team's offensive coordinator.

"They've come in hungry and excited about Ada Cougar football. Those two guys are going to be fantastic for our school and our football program," Boyles said.

The rest of the AHS football coaching staff includes Justin Nail, another former Cougar, who will oversee the offensive and defensive line; Robbie Powell, the Ada High School boys golf coach who makes his return to the football coaching staff to help out with the offensive line; Blake Hollenbeck, assistant boys track coach who will now coach wide receivers and defensive lineman for the Cougar football squad; and Lane Martin, who graduated from Stratford High School and will coach linebackers and running backs.

Boyles said despite the heavy turnover with the coaching staff, Ada players entered spring practice ready to get to work.

"Our kids came in excited. There was a lot of change and turmoil for them, but they still came in excited and hungry to learn," he said.

Numbers were great throughout the spring. The Cougars' high mark was 61 players.

"Our numbers are up right now. We stayed steady with about 55 kids. We had 61 at one point," Boyles said. "We have a lot of new faces. We've had kids come out from other (athletic) programs that hadn't played in the last couple of years. We have a couple of move-ins."

Boyles said one of the biggest things that happened with the Cougars through the eight days of workouts was team bonding.

"I think the biggest accomplishment this spring is getting our team chemistry, where our guys are trusting and believing in each other. Everyone is kind of going in the same direction," Boyles said. "When a team is player-led, you tend to have more success than when it's coach-driven."

Boyles said his seniors have shown good leadership so far.

"Our senior kids — kids like Kale Fuller and Deante Lindsay — have stepped up in their leadership role and taken that by the helm. They've done a fantastic job. Our seniors are going to be guys we rely on heavily for leadership," he said.

Summer Pride workouts are next for the Ada High football team and are scheduled for June 10-27. High school players will meet from 6:45 a.m. to 8:45 a.m. on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday and will meet from 8 a.m. to 9 a.m. on Wednesdays.

After the Oklahoma Secondary Schools Activities Association mandatory dead period from June 29-July 7 is over, Summer Pride will resume from July 8-25. A pair of Summer Pride workouts are also set for Aug. 5-6 from 8 a.m. to 9:30 a.m.

While meeting with the team after the final spring practice, Boyles and most of his coaching staff — emphasized how important it is to attend those summer sessions.

"The big thing is for our kids to show up during the summer. We want to make sure they're holding each other accountable as far as being here. I expect them to be here if they're in town," Boyles said. "There's no reason for them to not be here if they're in town. If they need a ride, we'll come get them. We want them here and we'll give them multiple opportunities for that. I want kids to go to church camp, go to sports camps and be kids. But at the same time, if you're in town, I want you here working out and being a part of what we have going on. That's gonna be huge for us."