James Clemens in action from scrimmage (Record Photo/Lindsay Vaught)

MADISON- With the season opener against Gardendale quickly approaching James Clemens Head Football Coach Wade Waldrop put his team through a rapid paced scrimmage Friday night.

A variety of ball carriers and receivers ripped off long gainers against a defense with backups mixed in with starters. Defensive stars Monty Rice and LaBryan Ray watched the hour and half scrimmage from the sidelines after playing briefly. Waldrop is still seeking to replace Devin Atkinson’s 1000 yards rushing last year after Atkinson injured a knee and is out for the season.

“It’s running back by committee right now,” Waldrop said. “Bradley Belt, Austin McGee, C.J. Hansen those guys ran the ball well tonight. We are still trying to figure out who can carry the workload. We just wanted to get some work and get out healthy.”

The Jets starting right tackle Brodie Collier suffered a knee injury in practice Thursday and was on crutches. The severity of it will be determined next week.

Cameron Cassidy, Eris Skelton Jr., Austin McGee, and Alex Boothe had long gainers.

“We did some things different than in practice, more game like,” Waldrop said. “I looked at a lot of the next guys up and the freshmen got a lot of reps. The quarterbacks ran the ball well, hit some passes to guys that were open, and didn’t turn the ball over.”

The quarterback competition between Jackson Nowlin and Jamil Muhammed continued. Both played and got equal reps. Both ran the ball a good bit and had success. There was some good hitting as both offense and defense went full contact.

New kicker Brodie Droppelman got a lot of work and hit most of his extra points and field goals.

Meanwhile over at Bob Jones, coach Kevin Rose went full speed matching ones against ones and twos against twos in 6 minute periods. The good news was that tackle Kendall Randolph was going full contact.

Bob Jones opens the season Friday night at home against Dorman (S.C.).