Pine Bluff Zebras Coach Micheal Williams is like a kid waiting on Santa Claus.
Zebra alum Williams -- class of 2002 -- said he cannot wait to hit the field at Jordan Stadium tonight against Little Rock Central.
"I don't know if I can sleep tonight," Williams said on Thursday. "I can't wait. I cannot wait. The team is looking real well. I want people to take us as a joke . While everyone has been chopping trees, we have been sharpening our ax."
Tonight's game is the first for the Zebras. They had an off-week while teams around the county played last week.
The Central High Tigers lost their game last week against Little Rock Christian Academy 41-6.
Williams will be facing Tigers Coach George Shelton, who is a legend in south Arkansas football including Pine Bluff.
Shelton is a graduate of the University of Arkansas at Monticello. He began his coaching career as an assistant at Warren before joining the staff at Pine Bluff at the age of 25 under Marion Glover. He then left Pine Bluff to join the Air Force.
After eight years, he rejoined Glover's staff and helped the Zebras win back-to-back state titles in the early 1990s.
Shelton has been a head coach in Augusta, Dollarway, Watson Chapel and Dumas. He also returned as an assistant coach in Warren prior to his job in Dumas.
The 7A Tigers had a 0-10 season last year. The 2021 6A Zebras went 2-7. This year, the Zebras are a 5A team.
Williams has been prepping his Zebras for the last two weeks. Last week, training focused on conditioning to get his players in shape to handle the humidity. Many players suffered leg cramping in last week's games around southeast Arkansas so training and hydrating have been key.
All week, the Zebras have prepped for tonight.
"We are [a] really talented team," Williams said. "We are properly prepared and not just that we have better athletes but schematically we are ready."
For the Zebras, it's all hands on deck getting ready for Friday night.
The team heard a pep talk on Thursday afternoon as part of Williams' Zebra Pride Hero series from Pine Bluff Assistant Superintendent Phillip Carlock.
In a heart-felt talk, Carlock told the team members that how they represent the school and the team matters.
"This is one of the premiere teams in the state," Carlock said. "That's why you have fans in the stands and scouts in the stands."
Carlock told the players that while football was important, so is academics. Williams has a new coaching system that focuses on players arriving to practice at 6 a.m. before the school bell rings. They go to class fired up. In the afternoons, they weight train and condition and afterward, it's all academics. Players finish homework and receive tutoring, if needed.
"It's important for you to have a plan B," Carlock said. "You have to be good at other things, too, other than football. Without a plan B, you have the streets and from there you have two routes -- stay there or the penitentiary."
Williams asked Carlock to share a story with the Zebras that occurred when Carlock was in the 11th grade.
Carlock was sitting in his car skipping class when a "now so-called" friend approached him. He asked Carlock if he could put a stack of radios in the back of his car. Carlock said yes.
He and his friend then went to class. The police showed up. Carlock's friend had stolen $5,000 worth of radios. Although Carlock never touched the radios, he was arrested. He was charged with a felony and convicted.
When Carlock was 25 years old and trying to get his first teaching job in Little Rock, he was told he would never teach with a felony. He worked for a year to get his record "cleaned up" so he could teach.
"My 16-year-old mistake could have made me not be in front of you now," Carlock said.
It was a powerful warning to the high school players to consider what they do outside of school and outside of the football field. Carlock prayed with the team before they got in their stretch line and yelled "1-2-3-Z!"
It's positive life-changing messages like that that Williams has been pushing all summer since he was hired to return to his home town to coach the Zebras. And it's a community affair.
Dads and mentors came together Thursday afternoon to decorate team helmets. Ryan Watley, director of Go Forward Pine Bluff and Samuel Glover, director of the city's Parks and Recreation Department, sponsored a gumbo breakfast for the team Wednesday. Football moms decorated football lockers Thursday night.
While winning is the end goal, building community is in the forefront of everything Williams' wants his team to accomplish this season, he said.
"I grew up watching the Zebra football greats," Williams said. "I tried to mimic my game after them. I wanted to be those guys. I don't think the kids get the history of the team or the city. It's about bringing back Zebra pride."
