Lonoke Jackrabbits open fall camp

The Lonoke Jackrabbits run a play during the first day of practice on Monday. (Photo by Mark Buffalo)

By Mark Buffalo

Staff Writer

LONOKE — The Lonoke Jackrabbits football team opened fall drills Monday morning under seventh-year coach Doug Bost. 

The Jackrabbits are coming off a 5-6 season in 2014. They are ranked 10th in Class 4A by Hooten's Arkansas Football Magazine and picked to finish third in the 4A-2 conference behind favorite Newport and Heber Springs. 

Bost said the first day of practice went well for his squad. 

"We did a little defense first for an hour and we worked on some special teams," Bost said. "We worked on punt team and we worked on some offense. We were out there for about three hours.

"The pace of practice went real good. We came out and executed real well first thing this morning."

Bost said there were 48 players there for the first day of fall camp. During summer drills, Bost said he averaged about 40 players. 

"We've got a lot of baseball players that have been playing that and people going on vacation," he said. "A pretty consistent number has been around 40."

Lonoke has two new assistant coaches. They are Kenneth Riedinger, who was the head coach for Kelly High School in Benton, Missouri, before coming to Lonoke. He previously coached with current Lonoke High School principal Marc Sherrell. 

The other new assistant is Ronald Young, who taught math at Lonoke High School last year. Bost said he was previously a head coach in Tennessee. 

Taggart Moore is the only holdover from last year's staff. He was promoted to defensive coordinator when Drake Widener left to become head coach at Des Arc. 

"I'm excited with what we've got," Bost said. 

The Jackrabbits can practice in shoulder pads and helmets starting Wednesday but cannot go full contact until after the fifth day of practice. Lonoke will do that this coming Monday.

Lonoke will scrimmage Maumelle and Carlisle on Monday, Aug. 24, at James B. Abraham Stadium. It will be the first time that the Jackrabbits and Bison have played since September 1990. 

The scrimmage will start at 6 p.m.

Lonoke opens the season Sept. 4 at  Star City.