Hounds Academy strengthens roots among middle schoolers, JCHS coaches

The time for middle schoolers to suit up for the Greyhounds on Friday nights is yet to come. But last week, strong roots were planted for the course of that journey as the Jones County High School football program hosted its inaugural Hounds Academy. Over a span of four days, roughly 50 rising sixth through eighth graders got a full immersion of what it means to be a Greyhound football player. That ranged from film review, meetings with high school position coaches, weightlifting sessions and on-field workouts. It even included getting up to speed on how the Greyhounds assemble when being addressed at the start and end of workouts. “It was awesome, we were able to not just connect with our middle school players and parents, but we also showed our process, got kids in the weight room and on the field for practice,” Greyhounds head coach Justin Montgomery said. In fact, at the end of last week’s first day of Hounds Academy, players were quickly quizzed to name one high school coach’s name that they had learned as well as rattling off at least one offensive or defensive concept. Hounds Academy concluded with players cooling off with some popsicles, being given t-shirts sand taking a championship team photo. “I told our staff, more important than any popsicle, these kids are going to connect to you when they see you at Ingles. When they see you in town, they’ll know you and you’ll know them,” Montgomery said. “That’s one of the most important things we can do in Jones County, connect to them and to their families. There’s a lot of development that we were able to do, but the bigger thing for us was to get to know our stakeholders and for our stakeholders to get to know us.”