In mid-March, the UIL shut down high school athletics due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

Four-and-a-half long months later, extracurricular activities return for Class A-4A programs as part of the back to school plan, which means Brownwood Lions football preseason practice will start as originally scheduled Monday afternoon.

“There’s a lot more enthusiasm for practice to start because in the spring they had some sports taken away from them,” said Lions third-year head coach Sammy Burnett. “They realize now you can’t taken anything for granted and think you’re always going to have this. There’s a greater sense of urgency on their part to be here and be excited about the opportunity they have.”

Practices will take place at 4:30 p.m. beginning Monday at the high school. Fans are encouraged to attend, but social distancing and masks are encouraged by Burnett in an effort to keep alive the quest for a full football season.

“It’d be neat to see some people out there in their lawn chairs social distancing just to get out and enjoy something and watch our kids grind to try and accomplish some of the goals they’ve set for themselves,” Burnett said. “Remember to wear those masks. That’s the thing that’s going to flatten out this pandemic and give us an opportunity to get where we want to be and ensure we can continue our schedules and we don’t get shut down at some point.”

The Lions are coming off an 11-2 campaign with a trip to the third round of the playoffs, but several members of last year’s squad have since graduated.

Filling those voids will be crucial for the Lions, who have attempted to due so in uncharacteristic ways due to the shutdown. The UIL did eventually allow student-athletes to participate in summer strength and conditioning and some sport specific workouts, a change from years past.

“Because of the restrictions that were lifted, the fact that we were given a little bit more sport specific time over the summer I think actually puts us a little ahead of the game when it comes to understanding our schemes and philosophies with our kids,” Burnett said. “For us, we feel like we may be young in terms of game experience, but knowledge-wise we’re a step ahead so I feel that’s a blessing for us.”

Almost the entire varsity coaching staff returns, which should provide a considerable advantage for the Lions.

“Stability in your staff is huge,” Burnett said. “We lost one high school boys coach from last year, Chase Adams, because his wife was promoted and got a great opportunity so they went back to Frisco. We hired Preston Rabb, who has a great knowledge of quarterback play and that’s huge for us now as we’re trying to develop our quarterbacks.

“There’s not a bunch of teaching going on with our coaches because the kids understand and know because they’ve been here. We’re at a great advantage there for our kids to be taught properly. It’s going to elevate our game because our kids are extremely knowledgeable.”

Among the greatest pluses that come with a veteran staff is the returning players are extremely familiar with the offensive and defensive schemes.

“We’re not having to do a bunch of install with our schemes,” Burnett said. “We’ve been able to do that even when we were at home and having Zoom meetings with kids everyday. We still had an opportunity to implement our offense and defense. It’s more about perfecting our positions and understanding what we’re supposed to do. We have a great base so it’s more adjusting to what people are doing to us.”

In terms of strengths heading into the season, Burnett has been pleased with the seniors’ willingness to lead by example.

“We have good senior leadership and we have a bunch of young kids that are willing to follow their lead,” Burnett said. “They have a good work ethic, the kids understand what we expect of them on and off the field, and we have a pretty close knit group. The younger ones are leaning on the older ones for guidance and confidence.”

The most experienced units for the Lions heading into the preseason are the line on the offensive side of the ball, and the secondary on defense. The skill positions on offense – including quarterback – are the biggest question marks at this point, due in part because of the lack of a 7-on-7 program during the summer.

“We’re still trying to find a quarterback and we’re not sure who that guy is going to be,” Burnett said. “We really didn’t have a great opportunity to evaluate the candidates that we have, so we’re going to have to do a great job in practice, in film study, when we’re going good on good, and we really have to do a good job when we evaluate our scrimmage. I don’t want to go into Week 1 not knowing who that guy is going to be. We were excited about 7 on 7 because it was going to give us an opportunity to do that, evaluate all our kids, not just at the quarterback position but at some receiver spots and with some of the secondary positions.”

Regarding the first week of practice, retention and conditioning will be among the priorities the first four days until players don the pads on Friday.

“At first we’ll get acclimated, but for us a great evaluation will come that first Friday where we get to put on pads and see how physical our kids are going to be,” Burnett said. “A huge component of a team is how physical you are.”

The Lions’ lone preseason scrimmage is slated for Thursday, Aug. 20 at Gordon Wood Stadium against Godley. The regular season kicks off Friday, Aug. 28 at No. 3 Lampasas.