RSHS 2024-2025 athletic year begins Wednesday

The 2024-2025 Richmond Senior High School athletic year gets underway Wednesday as multiple programs report for their first practice.

The RSHS Raider Football Team will make the most of its first two days of practice, as the Raiders will take the field Wednesday morning, and return that evening for a midnight madness practice under the Raider Stadium lights.

“I’m definitely excited for it. We’ve had a pretty good summer, a pretty good little turnout. The guys worked and progressed, and the coaches did the same thing. It’s a really exciting time. One of my plans is to have that build-up to August 1. It’s football time in Richmond County. The season is here,” Coach Brad Denson said.

The Raiders wrapped up their summer workout program last Thursday. This offseason was Coach Denson’s first since officially signing on as head coach last January. Following Spring practices in May, the Raiders transitioned to their summer strength and conditioning program. Beginning with 150 participants, the four-day rigor of workouts, followed by run-throughs on the practice field whittled that number down to 130 by the start of practice.

“I’m really excited about where we’re at, and kick the season off July 31 ^st . We’re going to do a little thing at the stadium that night. Starting late that night, do a practice, then wait until early Thursday morning, right after midnight, and knock out a short, very short, little practice,” Denson said.

The midnight madness practice will serve multiple purposes. First, it allows underclassmen with aspirations to make first team on the depth chart a chance at acclimating to the Friday night lights. Second, it allows the public to get a sneak peek at the 2024 Raiders. Third, it allows the Raiders to get a jump-start on full-contact practices. While not looking to cause injuries, Denson said he’s looking to acclimate his players to the type of physicality he expects of them every Friday.

“Next week, it will start getting amped up a little bit. We’ll have two helmet-only days and two helmet and shoulder pads days. Then on August 6, we can put on full pads and go full gear. It will get amped up that day for sure. It will be something unlike what you saw in the spring and in the summer,” Denson said. “In the summer you can’t do anything like that, but [August 6] you will see it get amped up quick. I want to be physical at practice, but also how to practice and take care of each other. It’s not an offense versus defense thing. We’re all one team, and we have to learn how to take care of each other. We have to learn how to practice physical at the same time. I have some plans for that, and I think the kids and staff will like it.”

With their August 23 opener against Seventy-First High School less than a month away, more than 130 players will spend the next few weeks working to climb up the depth chart. Players seemed to earn their stripes a little early by making it through the summer strength and conditioning program. One weight-room regular this summer is senior linebacker Joe Parsons, who served a dual role in the weight room both looking to improve himself and serve as a weight-room ambassador to the underclassmen.

“Everybody has been putting in work all summer. We had a bunch of guys who came in and didn’t even have a max. They’ve been able to increase tremendously. Everybody is going in the right direction. Everybody is getting stronger. Things definitely get real for me (Wednesday),” Parsons said. “This is my last time going through here, and I’m trying to make sure I’m leaving a legacy someone can continue on (with) what we got going here. I feel like I made a lot of improvements (this summer). I try to do the best I can. I try to lead by example in the weight room. I’m definitely excited. We have a good opponent for week one, and we’ll see what we got for them.”