It was a defense-focused practice on Thursday for Taylor Ownbey’s Cougars

By Clayton Carroll

JACKSBORO, TN (WLAF) – On the warm, sunny Thursday morning, while most were waking up and starting their day, the Cougars were putting in the work on John T. Reynolds Field.

“We practiced more offensively during June, so now we are picking up that slack a little bit with more of a defensive focus here in July,” said Coach O when asked about Thursday’s practice.

Coach and former Cougar number 22 C.J. Allen instructs skill players during individual drills

It was a helmets only practice on Thursday from 7-9:30 am. That won’t be the case though come Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. It’s time for full pads starting those three days.

The Cougar lineman work on their blocking technique

“We’ve seen a lot of improvements over the summer,” mentioned Coach Ownbey. “We’re getting our (play) calls better, understanding assignments, and just some mental improvements is what we’ve seen.”

Coach Taylor Ownbey and Coach Mark Romero (far right) watch as the team gets set to run a play from scrimmage

The Cougars are gearing up for their first scrimmage of the year at home against Seymour on Friday, August 1st.

“That first scrimmage is gonna be key. We’ve gotta continue to build on what we’re doing, and once we get in a scrimmage we can fix the things we had problems with,” Ownbey said. “It’s a week-to-week season. We just gotta keep building.”

The Orange-and-Blue will keep preparing for the first regular season game of the year on Friday, August 22, at Lenoir City with a 7pm kickoff. For their 15th straight season, Les Martin and Brent Allen will bring you the coverage of Cougar Football over the WLAF Doyle’s Tire Sports Network. The network spans ten media platforms. Watch over WLAF TV-1089 on Comcast-Xfinity,1450wlaf.com, Roku TV, Amazon Fire TV, Facebook, YouTube, Twitch, and you can listen by way of WLAF Radio AM 1450 & FM 100.9 and Amazon Alexa. 

(WLAF NEWS PUBLISHED 7-21-2025 6AM)

Related