Coming off their first district championship in 12 years, the Brownwood Lions will kick off their sixth football season under head coach Sammy Burnett on Monday with goals to repeat atop the District 2-4A Division I standings and advance past the regional semifinal playoff round.

Beginning his 14th season as a head coach, Burnett – who expects the varsity roster to feature 35 to 40 players – owns a 91-56 career record, including a 33-24 mark at Brownwood.

“The kids we have now have gone through our system their whole career,” Burnett said. “They understand what we want and what we expect, so for a coach it’s much easier. Going through offseason, our kids ran the program. Coaches didn’t have to blow whistles, didn’t have to correct kids, the kids hold themselves accountable and we have high expectations that we’ve set.”

The strength of the team heading into the season is unquestionably defense, according to Burnett, where the bulk of last year’s unit that yielded 17 points and 269 yards – 153 rushing and 116 passing – per game, with 21 takeaways, returns.

Linebackers Sam Kallman, Stevie Ramirez and Jaylan Brown comprise the most experienced position group on either side of the ball. Zakk Zabecki will also rotate into the mix.

“When those guys arrive to the ball they will arrive violently,” Burnett said. “I’m looking forward to the first scrimmage more than anything because I want to see the identity of our defense. I want people to fear playing them.”

Returning in the secondary are Morsello Hooker and Jordyn Nickerson at the corners and safeties Jake Jetton, Colton McMillian and Hayden Noe.

The front line will likely end up featuring three new starters in a combination of Robert Trowbridge, Weston Wolf, Dominic Moseley and Julius Lara.

“We’ll expect our defense to keep us in ball games early while we find the starter to our engine to get the offensive motor running,” Burnett said. “We need to build some continuity and belief in each other and the younger guys have to go through the fire.”

Quarterback Ike Hall is the lone starter returning from last year’s offensive unit that averaged 40 points and 386 yards – 229 on the ground and 157 through the air – per outing, including two games of at least 60 points.

Needing five new starters along the offensive line, current projections, according to Burnett, feature Quinten McCarty at left tackle, Cole Miller at left guard, and Davis Le at center – last year’s starting defensive front. The right side of the line will feature Aidan Packhauser at guard and Logan Knight at tackle.

“There’s changes to be made every year and it’s exciting to see what the changes are,” Burnett said. “For me as a coach, knowing those kids are willing to do whatever it takes to be a Brownwood Lion and win and play whatever position need be is important.”

The rotation among the receiving corps – which lost 10 players from last year – include Morsello Hooker, Jordyn Nickerson, Jake Jetton, Hayden Noe, Grant Gray, Carson Noe and Ross Strasner on the outside. The competition at slot receiver includes Aaron Edmonds, Xavier Zepeda, Kenyan McDowell, Stone Ratliff, Gray Stewardson and Colton McMillian.

Lining up in the backfield will be a combination of Jaylan Brown as a bruising back, Logan McKibben as a slasher, and Noah Gonzalez who led the charge on the ground for the JV last year. Jetton will also see some time at tailback due to his speed, and Jaiden Gordon is another varsity newcomer.

“We’ll be plugging in some different faces, we have to make sure we have them in the right spots, but I think we’re going to be just fine,” Burnett said.

The first practice kicks off at 7:30 a.m. Monday at Brownwood High School and morning practices will continue throughout the initial week of workouts. The Lions’ first scrimmage will take place at Decatur on Friday, Aug. 11, then Lampasas will visit Thursday, Aug. 17 in the final action before the Aug. 25 season opener at Abilene Wylie.

The 2023 BrownwoodNews.com Pigskin Preview series runs Aug. 8-20 and will feature 13 teams, including all seven Brown County high schools.