Dawn of a new era: Lions’ preseason begins with early morning practices

On Monday morning, Lions Stadium had a Friday night feel to it.

The sky was pitch dark as Lockhart’s JV and varsity football players scrimmaged against each other to kick off practice at 5:30 a.m., long before the sun would come up, with the lights of the stadium providing the only illumination on the turf.

Players took reps and knocked the summer rust off before hitting the individual drills to close out practice as the sun peeked over the visitor’s side on the east.

Early morning practices are the name of the game this August, with Coach Todd Moebes looking to avoid heat-related injuries and illness with temperatures expected to reach up to 105 in the afternoons.

Just 15 days remain until the Lions take the field in Austin in their season opener against Austin Travis, a team they beat handily to open a 5-5 campaign in 2018.

Read more about the Lions’ preseason in this week’s Post-Register.