As Ider Head Coach Josh Clements sat in the reserved seats of the home stands at Wayne C. Hardiman Stadium Tuesday morning, he reflected on the last five months since taking over at Ider. 

Since the start of summer workouts in June, football, basketball, and baseball have all been on the same workout plan to maintain consistency across all athletes. The summer started with 70 athletes across all three sports, and now that number has fallen to around 62, for various reasons. 

“The goal for bringing all three sports together was to make sure that we as a unit are conditioned and to get stronger and better every day,” said Clements.

During the spring the Hornets worked on getting familiar with their new identity as a team.  They have continued this summer with a focus on 7-on-7 work. Ider will compete in the FCA 7-on-7 tournament in Rainbow City on Thursday. 

“We have been working with our defensive backs and our skill players to make sure they are ready to go compete Thursday,” said Clements.

The Hornets are freshman and junior-heavy, with just two seniors on the roster. Ider returns nine starters on offense and defense. Clements commended the players for their hard work and buy-in to this point of the summer. 

“These guys have shown up every day and put in the work to get better in everything they do, these guys have bought into what we want to do and I’m pleased with that,” said Clements. 

The roster for the Hornets will be made up of 35-40 players and the team is hungry to improve every day with every single drill or lift that they do. 

Ider begins fall camp on July 28 with their first practice that afternoon. The identity for the 2025 Hornets is that they will be a well-conditioned, physical team that wants to run the football on offense and stop the run on defense. 

“The biggest goal for us this summer was to focus on us as a team, getting better every day, and to be better on the next play than we were the last,” said Clements. 

Ider opens the season at Asbury on Aug.15 for the fall jamboree and the regular season starts Aug. 22 when the Hornets host Section.