EARLY – Coming off their third consecutive playoff appearance, the fourth year of Early Longhorns football under the direction of head coach Daniel Price began Monday.
“Three years ago we said we were going to make the playoffs, that was our goal and we did that and the last two years in a row we’ve won a gold football,” Price said. “That is the expectation we’ve set, and we’ve got a good group seniors that know that and have played a lot of football so they understand the expectation, which is to do everything we can to get into the playoffs and win another gold football.”
Early brings back six offensive and five defensive starters from a 7-5 bi-district championship squad that averaged 38 points and 403 yards – 238 passing and 165 rushing – a year ago, while yielding 21 points and 241 yards – 132 on the ground and 109 through the air – per outing.
As for the intial day of workouts, Price said, “We had a great turnout, 52 kids showed up this morning which is the most we’ve had in quite a few years. We finally have a big freshman class that brought 32 kids. We’ve got some familiar faces and some new guys stepping into roles, but we’re excited to be out here and it was a great first day.”
Regarding the players being accustomed to his system and coaching style, Price said, “Once you establish the groundwork and have laid the foundation as we have here, the first day is not as bad as it once was. You have a bunch of kids here who understand what the program is all about, what we want and what we expect – and the kids showed up ready to work that way.”
The rest of the week of practice for Early, according to Price, will feature, “another day with shorts, T-shirts and head gear, then Wednesday we put on shoulder pads and girdle. Friday we can go full pads, we just can’t go to the ground, then Saturday it’s a full go. But right now we’re doing a lot of drills, things to stay off each other for a few days until it’s time to go.”
Early is scheduled to scrimmage at Goldthwaite on Friday, Aug. 11 and host Albany on Thursday, Aug. 17 before the season begins at Longhorn Stadium on Friday, Aug. 25 with a visit from the archrival Bangs Dragons.
The Longhorns’ season preview story will appear Aug. 19 on BrownwoodNews.com as part of the Pigskin Preview series.
