The TSSAA’s decision to postpone the start of fall contact sports, left players and coaches with a lot of questions regarding what their season will look like and when and where it will take place. Grace Christian Academy’s Head Coach Rusty Bradley told me that despite all the uncertainties, his team’s goal stays the same.
"We've got to focus on our goal and not the circumstances." Bradley said. "Our goal is to be the best version of us that we can be, and if we get distracted on the circumstances and everything else that's going on, we are going to lose sight of our goal."
The circumstances right now are schools cannot have close contact activities during practices until Tennessee’s state of Emergency Order is lifted. As of right now, it’s extended until August 29th. This puts, yet another hold, on players’ who were hoping to use their senior season for college exposure.
"It's going to make it a challenge." Bradley says regarding senior recruitment. "Guys that needed to have a good spring practice, or a good summer going to camps, and they've lost that, so now it is going to come down to their senior season and having that opportunity to play well for coaches. That's why I think playing in the spring would be hard because if they do that for high school football then the NCAA is going to have to adjust their signing period."
The high school dead period is lifted on Monday, July 6th and Bradley says his number one priority is making sure his 17 seniors get the preparation time they deserve.
"They do things the right way and they're great kids." Bradley on his seniors. "I want to make sure that they have a senior season. I'm determine whatever that has to look like, I want to make it work."