Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

By KEVIN ECKLEBERRY

Daily News

The Troup Tigers will take a test run next week.

Thanks to a decision by the Georgia High School Association, sports teams in the state can begin summer conditioning and workouts on June 8.

There will, though, be plenty of restrictions in place because of the coronavirus pandemic.

With that in mind, Troup head football coach Tanner Glisson and other members of his staff will get together at the school on Tuesday.

“We’ll do a dry run as far as what it’ll look like when the kids come in,” said Glisson, who is heading into his sixth season as Troup’s head coach. “We’ll do a dry run as far as what it’ll look like when the kids come in as far as walking them through the screening process, all the way through the workouts, all the way through the disinfecting process at the end and getting them home. We’ll do that with just our coaches.”

Glisson is eager to get his players back at the school, something he hasn’t been able to do for more than two months.

Schools in Troup County were shut down on March 16 because of the coronavirus, and since then there have been no sports activities at the school.

“We’ve done about as much Zooming and things like that as we can possibly do,” Glisson said. “Most of us got into this business to help kids and be involved in their day-to-day lives, so that’s what we’re missing at the moment.”

The Tigers were in the midst of their offseason strength and conditioning program and preparing for spring practice when everything was shut down.

Since March 16, everything has been done remotely, with individual players responsible for their own fitness without a coach there to push them.

“We have a lot of confidence in them to do the right thing from a work ethic standpoint,” Glisson said. “But there’s that human nature piece that when we get back the week of June 8 we’ll have to assess things and see where everybody is. We’ll have some guys that have been self-motivated, and some guys that really need coaches standing over their shoulder pushing them. We’ll have to assess that and see where we are.”

Troup has a preseason game scheduled on Aug. 7 at Newnan, and the regular season opener is Aug. 21 against Harris County.

The Tigers are hoping to continue the success they’ve had over the past four seasons.

After winning just one game in 2015, Troup is 35-13 since the start of the 2016 season, and it has made the state playoffs four consecutive years.

2020 SCHEDULE

Aug. 7 – Troup at Newnan (preseason game)

Aug. 14 – Heard County at Troup (preseason game)

Aug. 21 – Troup at Harris County

Aug. 28 – Callaway at Troup

Sept. 4 – Bye week

Sept. 11 – Hardaway at Troup

Sept. 18 – Spencer at Troup

Sept. 24 – Troup at Columbus (Kinnett Stadium)

Oct. 1 – Troup at Kendrick (Memorial Stadium)

Oct. 9 – Shaw at Troup

Oct. 16 – Troup at Carver (Memorial Stadium)

Oct. 30 – LaGrange at Troup

Nov. 6 – Troup at Jordan