New Ravenwood head football coach Joe Rietveld works under the lights as the Raptors begin their first practice in pads at 12:01 a.m. Monday.

Ravenwood players get a jump on other area schools with the Midnight Madness practice. (Photos courtesy Rebecca Smeltzer)

Coaches Ryan Smith, left, and Paul Neil conduct practice at RHS.

Assistant coach Wade Privett runs Raptors players through drills.

RHS kicks off Rietveld era
with Midnight Madness

By ANDREW SKWARA
For Brentwood Home Page
With high school football teams in Tennessee officially allowed to begin practice today, Ravenwood didn't waste a single minute. Literally.

Ravenwood began practice at exactly 12:01 a.m. as part of Midnight Madness, the brainchild of new coach Joe Rietveld. Nearly 100 varsity players participated – freshmen were excluded – in what was a two-hour session with more than 100 parents and students in attendance.

"We thought it was an interesting idea. It was something different and we were all excited about it," said Chris Sawyer, president of the Red Zone football booster club.

"We got goosebumps watching it. It was really pretty cool."

The players then spent the night at the school and returned for another practice at 7 a.m. It was the first time the program has ever held this type of unique event.

“It's something a little different and something we felt would lift the players up," said Rietveld, most recently head coach at Wawasee High in Syracuse, Ind.

"... It's sparked a lot of interest here, and it's a good way for the players to spend time together and bond. But it's not all fun. We are dealing with the heat and there is a lot to prepare for.” 

Rietveld and his staff treated the first practice much like the start of any other season, breaking up the players into their positional groups and focusing on fundamentals. Contact was limited as the players only wore upper body pads.

But  having fans in the stands and holding the practice under the lights created a game-like atmosphere.

“The support we have received has been awesome,” Rietveld said. “We had fans tailgating and have a great crowd here.

“I had only heard great things about the program before I took the job and the Red Zone has far exceeded my expectations. Anything we ask for they get and anything they can't get they sure try to.”

Reitveld decided on the event after his team couldn't attend camp at Tennessee Tech Aug. 2-6 due to eight assistant coaches' required orientation as new Williamson County teachers.

Ravenwood fans and students showed up to watch the team's opening practice from just after midnight, to 2 a.m.

"We were pleasantly surprised" with the turnout, Red Zone parent Sawyer said. "When we planned the thing, we weren't sure if we would get five parents or 200.

"We were shocked when we saw how many turned out."

The team has 25 days to prepare for its first game which will come on the road at Battle Ground Academy.

One of the first moves Rietveld made after taking the job in early April was to hold individual meetings with all his players in an effort to get to know one another. He also held 10 spring practices, which gave him a chance to install his new schemes.

Rietveld has the luxury of leaning on a group of 40 seniors who have been providing veteran leadership in the offseason. 

“The seniors have really helped,” he said. “We have had a few new players come out this year and the whole month of June the team was going through conditioning on their own.”

Rietveld is hoping to build his new, “fast-paced” offense around a pair of those seniors: massive offensive tackles Hunter Judson and Kyle Bolstad. Judson stands 6-foot-8 and Bolstad is 6-foot-6 and each weighs over 300 pounds.

“We are going to hide behind those two and run the ball a lot,” Rietveld said. “But, we're going to be balanced too. In the past, I've usually had only one or two subs on offense, but we are two or three deep at some positions here, especially at receiver so we're going to be able to sub a lot.” 

The defense is led by four seniors who will be counted on to play big roles, defensive lineman Anthony Jones, linebacker Collin Sawyer and defensive backs Vincent Swann and Grant Jones.