Shelley begins second tenure as head coach of Orangeburg Prep
Indians fall to Dorchester Academy 22-8 in opener
Orangeburg – Don Shelley’s return to the sidelines as the football head coach at Orangeburg Preparatory School didn’t begin quite the way for which he had hoped.
The Indians went to St. George and dropped a 22-8 decision to Dorchester Academy on August 25.
“We just made too many mistakes to be honest with you,” said Shelley, who led Orangeburg Prep to six SCISA state titles during his first tenure from 1986 through 2005. “Honestly, most of them were mental We made too many to win a game.
“We were making mistakes on both sides of the ball. I feel a little better after I watched the film though. I feel like they are things that we can solve. I don't think we were so much outmanned. We just didn’t play to our capabilities. A lot of it is stuff that we can fix in practice.”
Shelley returned to Orangeburg Prep after being the head coach at Williamsburg Academy. The Stallions won the SCISA AA title last year, giving Shelley 10 state championships. He also won three 8-man titles at Holly Hill Academy.
While the results weren’t what he wanted to see, Shelley was happy with the way his team had handled itself leading up to the start of the season.
“The attitude is great,” Shelley said. “They have really been working hard. They seem to be enthusiastic. “Hopefully we’ll get off on the right foot.”
Shelley had to break in a new quarterback and it is senior Austin Hall, who was selected as OP’s Player of the Year last season. He chose to go with Hall because of his athletic ability.
“He hasn't played a lot of quarterback,” Shelley said of Hall, who will also be starting at safety on defense. “He's got a little more speed than the other two kids. Doing what we're doing on offense, it is important to have a quarterback who can run.”
A pair of seniors are starting at running back in Jay Plummer and Datron Moorer. A pair of sophomores, Jayri Parker and Ger’maury Robinson will also be getting carries as well.
As far as targets go for Hall, he has an intriguing one in sophomore tight end Tilden “T” Riley. The 6-foot-5-inch, 200-pound Riley was named Orangeburg Prep’s Rookie of the Year last season as a wide receiver.
“He's got a lot of ability,” Shelley said of Riley. “He’s always played out wide, but we’re going to have him connected to the line. He's had to work on his blocking from a tight end position. He's got to get a little more consistent at his blocking.”
The starting wide receivers are Ja Locke and senior Latron Moorer.
The Indians are very light along the offensive line. Junior left tackle Hart Wiles has the most size at 6-1, 250. The other starters are senior right tackle Ethan Williams (6-4, 195), left guard JC Strickland (5-10, 175), right guard Colston Thomas (6-0, 205) and center Emory Myerrs (5-8, 175).
Despite the lack of girth, Shelley believes he has a solid unit along the offensive front.
“They've looked good at times,” he said. “It's more mental mistakes than physical mistakes. They were more of a zone scheme last year, and we're more of a gap scheme. That's taken a little time. We’ve got kids up there who can get the job done for us.”
Defensively, Orangeburg Pep is operating out of a 3-man front. Wiles and Williams are starters along with Davis Turner (5-11, 215). The Indians have good size at linebacker with Plummer (6-1, 200), junior Brayden Gramlin (6-0, 230), Thomas and Robinson (5-10, 195). The secondary is made up of Hall (5-1, 175), Locke (5-9, 160), Walt Mims (5-9, 145) and Latron Moorer (5-10, 158).
“I think the defense is maybe a little further along than the offense,” Shelley said. “We’re doing better running to the football. We've got to get better as tacklers in terms of form and things like that.
“I feel good in the secondary. They didn't have to make as many changes as the defensive front and the linebackers. They don’t have to change a lot of what they’ve done in the past. We've had some mental breakdowns in scrimmages, but I think we can cover people.”
Shelley said what he was most pleased with against Dorchester was the kicking of Mims and the punting of Morrison Burroughs. They had to move into those positions late in the summer when a player left the team.
“They both did a good job considering it was their first game and they took it on so late,” Shelley said. “I also thought our kick coverage was good as well.”
Shelley said the goal for the Indians at this point is to continue to make steady improvement and become more physical.
“That's the big thing for us,” he said. “Our mindset has to be to go out every day and get better. I thought we hung in there, particularly in second half. We got a little something going offensively. We’ve just got to continue to work to get better.”
While Shelley is looking for more physicality from his squad, he thinks a lot of that can come between the ears.
“We want to get tougher more on the mental side than the physical side,” he said. “When it ain’t going good, I want us to stay up and stay together. Every day we want to get better an hopefully at some point in the year we’ll get to where we need to be.”
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