EARLY – Thunderstorms in the morning hours of the first day of football practice forced the Early Longhorns to move the second half of their initial workouts under new head coach Marvin Wilson indoors, but other than that Monday’s workout went as expected.
“We started out great and about halfway through lightning and rain got us,” Wilson said. “Things change, and one thing you have to be able to do during a game is adjust, and we got inside the turf room and it was no different than being outside. The kids did a great job. Sometimes when you go inside it’s not the same, but our inside today was pretty good.”
Wilson was ecstatic with the level of enthusiasm and energy the Longhorns brought to practice on day one.
“You’re always curious about how day one is going to go, but we told the guys the doors were going to be open at 5 a.m. and we going to take the field around 5:45 a.m.,” Wilson said. “I would say about 90 percent of them were here right around 5 a.m. We also had a few kids we moved around to different positions, and they were ready to go. Their willingness was good and a positive, and they worked hard.”
Wilson reported approximately 80 players showed up for the first workouts of the season, including a healthy number of underclassmen.
“We almost ran out of helmets,” Wilson said with a laugh. “I’ve talked to some schools our size that had about 60 to 65, but our kids are showing up. And we had a ton of young kids, which is a positive for the future.”
Practices will begin at 8 a.m. the rest of the week for the Longhorns. Early will then visit Wall Friday, Aug. 15 in its first scrimmage, then welcome Albany Thursday, Aug. 21 for the final scrimmage. The Longhorns open the regular season Friday, Aug. 29 at home against Bangs.
Early finished with a 1-9 record in 2024.
