No more waking up early for work, sleeping in late or enjoying early-evening activities at the movie theater or swimming pool. It’s time to get down to business on the gridiron.
The Tigers officially begin practice Monday running from 7:30-9:30 a.m. and 4-6 p.m. with two-a-day sessions in shorts, T-shirts and helmets.
They’ll continue that schedule through Friday - the first day with full pads - and conclude the week with intrasquad scrimmages Saturday beginning with the freshmen at 9, junior varsity at 10 and varsity at 11.
Entering his second season at Belton and seventh overall as a head coach, Rodney Southern said the main thing he’s hoping to see during early-season drills is how well the Tigers understand and execute the terminology they’ve learned during the past year.
“The biggest thing for us going into practice is to see the retention knowledge-wise from the spring,” said Southern, whose team finished 3-7 and tied for fifth in District 13-5A in his first season. “After that, it’s seeing what kind of shape everybody is in so we know how to handle and prepare for each following practice.”
Belton’s second week resumes with two-a-days Aug. 18 and 19, an early-morning practice Aug. 20 and a light practice Aug. 21 before a home scrimmage against Waco Midway at 7 p.m. Aug. 22.
The following week, the Tigers will have the final three of 19 total practices before their Aug. 28 season opener against perennial power Ennis - which returns 11 starters from a squad that went 7-5 and advanced to the Class 4A playoffs area round - in the H-E-B Classic at 7 p.m. at Waco ISD Stadium.
Belton’s schedule doesn’t get much easier after that. The Tigers will host annual opponent Round Rock McNeil and play at Mansfield Timberview - which was 9-4 and advanced to the 5A regional semifinals - before they open District 12-5A action Sept. 25 against Harker Heights in Killeen.
The Tigers return junior quarterback Kevin Thornton, who was 12-for-30 last season in a backup role, to lead the offense, while senior and first-team all-district linebacker Kyle Voss (110 tackles, 11 for loss in 2007) returns to anchor the defense.
Senior running back Josh Newman is a likely candidate to replace the graduated duo of Keith Daniels and Khiry Robinson, who rushed for 1,976 yards and 14 touchdowns and accounted for more than 63 percent of Belton’s offense.
Last season, the Tigers were a handful of plays away from their first winning record and playoff appearance since 2003, suffering a pair of three-point losses to McNeil and Heights and a four-point loss to Killeen Ellison.
In the offseason, Belton held 18 practices during its spring session, capped by its Red-White game May 30.
During the summer months, several Tigers competed at the 7-on-7 state tournament in College Station, the second time Belton has qualified for state and first since 2000.
Southern said that although the pads-free 7-on-7 game is very different from the regular 11-on-11 game, reaching the state tournament was definitely a momentum boost and should speed up the practice schedule.
“We played over 50 7-on-7 games during the summer months and just having them active and running really helps,” he said. “Does it help us in terms of what we’re doing? Yeah, because you hope you ran your stuff and ran your coverages. It’s definitely a big plus.”
cmeister@temple-telegram.com
