A potential postseason preview awaits the Brownwood Lions, who kick off the scrimmage portion of the preseason Friday at Gordon Wood Stadium against the Decatur Eagles. The JV and freshman teams will scrimmage on the opposite ends of the field at 5 p.m., with the varsity squads to take over the entire field at 6 p.m.

Decatur is coming off a 4-7 playoff campaign a year ago with five starters returning on each side of the ball, but head coach Steve Huff’s Eagles are tabbed to place second behind Springtown in District 4-4A Division I this year, according to Dave Campbell’s Texas Football magazine.

The Lions were also 4-7 in 2021, but with the move to Region I Brownwood – with seven offensive and 10 defensive starters returning – is now the favorite to capture the Region I championship, based Dave Campbell’s Texas Football website projections in late July.

“It’s great a measuring stick to see where we are right now or what we need to do,” Burnett said. “Decatur is coming in from Region I and they’ve been really successful the last several years. We’ll see if we’re on track, if we’re a little ahead of schedule or if we’re a little behind schedule. This always gives us a chance to see more people on film, evaluate them, and make sure we have the right kids at the right spots at the right time when we kick it off against Wylie.”

The varsity format will feature 12 plays with the starting offenses from both teams, then 10 each from the second teams, 10 more from the first teams and eight additional plays from the reserves. Possessions will begin at the 30 and there will be three plays to gain a first down or return to the 30. Drives that extend to the opposition’s 20 yard line will receive four downs to complete.

In the Maroon-White scrimmage this past Saturday, the Lions first-team defense forced a pair of turnovers against the starting offense, while Brownwood’s second-team offense found the end zone twice. Burnett shared his goals for both units for Friday night.

“Offensively I want to see us be physical up front, no busted assignments, know your rules, execute your rules, stay on your blocks,” Burnett said. “With running backs, protect the football. With quarterbacks, work the pocket, understand the offense and make sure we’re communicating all the way across the field with the receivers, so everybody is on the same page. We need to go out there and execute plays. We’ve been working all week so things will show up in this scrimmage that we didn’t see in the last scrimmage.

“Defensively, we have to know how to line up. Decatur is going to motion out of the backfield, they’ll motion across the set from spread to trips and trips to spread. They’ll be in some two-back with early motion from the back. We have to be solid on our keys, have strong eyes, be disciplined on what we’ve been taught to read, see what’s going on and play fast. They’re going to go fast, they’re an RPO team and they like to go very tempo. They’re going to try and wear us out and go fast so we have to be calm. We have to match their speed and go out there and arrive to the ball and when they arrive, I want them to be violent. They’re a team that likes to go horizontal and tries to get the edge, so we need to see if we can fly to the ball and have five or six guys making the tackle and not one or two.”

Burnett stated the coaching staff will be keeping their eyes on a few positions in particular.

“It’s always an evaluation and we’ll be looking to see if someone rises up and passes someone else,” Burnett said. “I’m still looking at the safety positions to make sure we’ve got the right kids in there doing that. I think we’re good at the corner spots, but I want to see more depth when the 2s go. For example, Hayden Noe is a guy that can play offense, defense and special teams and he’s catching our eye with some things, and I want to see how he goes against Decatur.”

Following Friday’s scrimmage, the Lions will venture to Lampasas next Thursday in their final tune-up for the Aug. 26 season opener at Gordon Wood Stadium against Class 5A Abilene Wylie.