By Kevin Eckleberry

kevin.eckleberry@lagrangenews.com

LAGRANGE – It’ll be a busy morning.

The LaGrange Grangers will host an 11-on-11 camp on Friday, and it will be a full house, with eight teams participating.

In addition to the host Grangers, teams from Creekside, South Cobb, Manchester, Lithia Springs, Salem, Shaw and Spencer will take part in the camp that gets under way at 9 a.m.

The camp will be held at Callaway Stadium and the LaGrange College practice field.

The teams will scrimmage against each other, and when they’re not playing, they’ll receive instruction from the coaches from the different schools.

Unlike the seven-on-seven scrimmages where there is no contact and it’s all about passing, the 11-on-11s are a closer approximation to a real game.

There are the regulation number of men on the field, and hitting is also permitted, although players aren’t supposed to be driven to the ground.

Earlier this summer, LaGrange hosted an 11-on-11 padded camp with two other teams.

“For you to be able to see your guys actually using pads during a game, that’s what you want to see,” LaGrange head coach Dialleo Burks said following the earlier camp.

Burks added that “seven-on-sevens are great, but it’s different when you’ve got somebody coming at you and you’re trying to catch a ball. You can get hit, rather than just running by.”

The Grangers will participate in another 11-on-11 camp at Manchester next week as they wrap up their summer program.

Preseason practice begins on July 25, and LaGrange will face Heard County in a preseason game on Aug. 4.

LaGrange opens the regular season on Aug. 18 against Callaway.