Football preseason notes: Camas Papermakers
I spent Thursday evening in Camas, watching the Papermakers as they prepare for what they hope will be a very long football season. December is on their minds. My story on quarterback Reilly Hennessey runs in Saturday’s paper. Here are a few notes, and a quick glance at their coach.
Coach: Jon Eagle
Sixth season
Record at Camas: 47-11
Note: Leads active coaches in Clark County with 151 career wins (Evergreen, Redmond, Camas).
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Let’s dance:
The Papermakers are already good at football. Now, it appears they want to improve their dance moves.
New to the team this year: Music at practice. Loud music. A really good mix, too. Some oldies. Some new stuff. Classic rock. Hip hop. Pop. Country, too.
“We were begging Eagle,” Hennessey said, referring to coach Eagle, not wide receiver (Zach) Eagle. “He was totally cool with it. It’s awesome.”
Coach Eagle noticed the music at some college programs. Oregon, he said, blasts the music at its practices. Good enough for the Ducks, good enough for the Papermakers.
Eagle said he likes it, and it seems to get his players moving quicker from drill to drill.
“We want to make it fun. It’s a high school activity. It’s got to be fun.”
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Coach Eagle on playing for Camas:
“We want to give the players the opportunity to be accountable to themselves and to their teammates. Someone is counting on you.”
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It takes commitment:
Reilly Hennessey has told Eastern Washington that he intends to sign with the Eagles in February.
Coach Eagle, who has had a number of quality quarterbacks through the years, said Hennessey deserved that scholarship and all the success he has had on the field because Hennessey was willing to sacrifice so much to work on his game.
“If you’re going to be an accomplished 3A or 4A quarterback, you’re fooling yourself if you think you can be good if you don’t work on your craft year-round,” Eagle said.
That’s not to say one must specialize. In fact, Eagle encourages his football players to compete in other sports. Hennessey, in fact, played baseball for the Papermakers. But for a person to excel at quarterback, any down time needs to be used to work on football.
Hennessey has done that, and the work has paid dividends.
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Catch this:
No offense to Hennessey, who looked solid on Thursday, but in my two hours out there, I was most impressed with the receivers. I saw two balls that should have been caught that were dropped. And I bet I saw more than a hundred passes. It did not matter who the balls were thrown to, veteran receivers, younger guys, whoever, those footballs were not touching the ground.
