The Brownwood Lions officially put a trying 2020 football season in the rear view mirror Monday afternoon as the 2021 campaign began with the first practice at Gordon Wood Stadium.
“I liked the numbers and I liked the fact that our kids got out here and got to work,” Lions fourth-year head coach Sammy Burnett said following the conclusion of Monday’s workout. “There were a lot of mistakes, which is a typical first day. We’ve got a lot of new stuff in that we’re trying to do and we’re trying to teach on the fly and do it fast. But I thought the kids responded for the most part. We looked like a first day team, but there’s a lot of hope there and a lot of potential, so I thought it was a good first day.”
Burnett reported 36 players on the varsity, 54 on the JV and somewhere in the 50s for the freshmen team – in the neighborhood of 140-plus players out for football this season.
“We still don’t have the numbers where we can two platoon, and we don’t have the numbers where we can afford to lose anybody, but I thought our numbers are growing, they’re getting better,” Burnett said.
Regarding other bright spots during the first practice, Burnett said, “What our kids understand right now, our base stuff that we’re trying to do right now, they already have the grasp on it. We’re already able to do some things we were doing in Week 6 or 7 in previous seasons, and right now it’s becoming second nature to them.”
Practices will continue at Gordon Wood Stadium Tuesday through Friday beginning at 7 a.m. Then on Saturday, the Lions varsity will take part in an intrasquad scrimmage at 9:30 a.m. with the subvarsity squads to follow at 11:30 a.m.
“I just want to see them executing what we’re asking them to do so that they can play fast,” Burnett said of his goals for the rest of the week. “Then when we have our intrasquad scrimmage Saturday it’s going to be a mixture of kids and we’re going to try and balance it the best we can. At that time, when we put those pads on, we’re going to see who’s going to light you up. We want to be physical on both sides of the ball, that’s something we’re looking forward to seeing, and then just making sure we have the right people in the right spots.”
The Lions will host Salado in their first scrimmage on Aug. 13, then travel to Godley for their final scrimmage Aug. 19 before opening the regular season Aug. 27 against Lampasas at Gordon Wood Stadium.
