Monday was seen as a holiday to high school football coaches around the state.
"Today begins the journey of the 2016 season! Hope everyone has a great day!" tweeted new Lake Hamilton coach Jeremy Reed.
For Reed, T.J. Burk at Jessieville and John Counce at Mountain Pine, Monday's first practice day, mandated by the Arkansas Activities Association, marked the beginning of their eras with their respective schools. But for the four remaining Garland County programs with their top leadership still intact, the start of fall camp began their attempts to build off last year's campaigns regardless of how successful they were.
Spirits were high during Lakeside's first practice following last year's 5A-South championship, the school's first league title since 1975. Although the Rams graduated a large percentage of their rushing offense, three starters on the offensive line and most of the defensive backfield, they're confident in how they're returning players will perform this season.
Lakeside's cross-town rival, Hot Springs, bested the Rams in their regular-season finale, carrying the rare feat of winning their final game into the offseason. With most of the contributors to their 2014 conference crown graduated by this point, the current Trojans are trying to build their own identity after a midseason swoon cost them a postseason berth last fall.
Hot Springs and Lakeside aren't the only schools that graduated a talented senior class off their 2015 squad. Fountain Lake faces its biggest rebuilding project since it began its run of nine consecutive postseason appearances in 2007, the Cobras losing nearly every bit of their production in every aspect of the game after finishing second in Class 4A-7 to state champion Nashville.
Cutter Morning Star tries to bounce back from going winless in 2015, but its conference got more difficult during the offseason when Hector, a 2A quarterfinalist a year ago, moved into 2A-5 in place of struggling Mountain Pine. The Red Devils, moved to 2A-7, defeated CMS 42-24 last season for their lone victory since winning the last two games of 2011.
Mountain Pine, still mourning the death of former coach Jody Frazier, is on its third head man in as many seasons while Reed and Burk attempt to replace legends in Jerry Clay at Lake Hamilton and Don Phillips at Jessieville. While the Wolves claimed 6A-South's No. 3 seed last season, Reed tries to improve upon last year's 4-7 overall record.
Burk, Phillips' quarterback on his 2006 state title team, tries to guide the Lions to the postseason after a three-year absence. Burk and Reed are already changing the culture by modifying their programs' offenses, Burk switching from Phillips' signature Wing T to the Spread and Reed going from Clay's signature Spread to the option-heavy Flexbone.
The AAA allows players to practice in pads Thursday, but most teams don't go full pads until the second week of camp. A heat advisory went into effect Monday afternoon, and most forecasts have it extending through most of this week.
Sports on 08/02/2016