Greenville Lions move ahead of last year's pace
August 9, 2011

By David Claybourn
Herald-Banner Sports Editor

GREENVILLE -- They’re way ahead of last year’s pace.

That’s the word from Greenville coach Chawn Cooper on Monday after the Lions’ first day of two-a-day football workouts.

“It was a lot better than a normal first day,” said Cooper. “We feel like we’re in week two right now in two-a-days.”

One thing helping speed up the Lions’ progress is that they went through three weeks of spring training. That’s the reason why they started their practices on Monday instead of last week, as was the case with most of the other local football teams. Last year the Lions passed up spring training, opting for an extra week of two-a-days.

Instead of teaching a lot of fundamentals on Monday, the Lion coaches could focus more on technique and work with team offense and team defense.

The Lions, for the most part, also reported in good shape.

“The summer (voluntary) conditioning and lifts seemed to have paid off,” said Cooper. “We didn’t have any problems at all with the heat this morning.”

The Lions started practice at 8 a.m. and were off the field by 1:15 p.m. They avoided the worst part of the heat, which climbed to 104 degrees later in the day. A breeze helped cool the Lions a little while they practiced on the field turf at T.A. “Cotton” Ford Stadium.

The Lion coaches worked with 50 varsity candidates and 38 junior varsity prospects. The Lions had 35 freshman players for their workout that started at 5:30 p.m. More freshmen are expected.