Hope springs eternal in run-up to football's first day of fall practice

Scenes of players screaming and shouting with excitement on the official opening day for 11-man high school football practices on Monday might be hard to find. That’s because the sport has changed to year-round activities, with players having done conditioning, lifted weights and learned plays for weeks this spring and summer. Opening day has become no different than what was happening on Friday for many programs.

“We already installed everything all spring and summer,” Carson coach William Lowe said. “It’s lost some of those days of nostalgia.”

The first day used to be so chaotic and humorous in the old days, with players not knowing how to put on helmets let alone figure out shoulder pads and struggling in line drills. Now everything has been done in advance. Yes, some newcomers might drop by who weren’t aware of practices, but for the most part, Monday is about continuing preparation for a season that begins Aug. 20-22.

“The most exciting thing is you get to put helmets on,” said first-year Whittier coach Lorenzo Hernandez, who used to coach at Garfield in the City Section.

Carson, the defending City Section Open Division champion, will have five mandatory days of acclimation, then hold an intrasquad scrimmage on Saturday. The Colts have more than 100 players going out for football, including a freshman class of 37.

“We want to begin peaking at the end of the year, not in August,” Lowe said.

The Colts haven’t forgotten what happened in their final game of 2025, a 35-33 state playoff loss to Delano Kennedy in which the Colts’ offensive and defensive lines were outplayed throughout.

“We’ve spent a lot of time in the weight room,” Lowe said. We took it to heart getting bigger and stronger.”

No players can participate in practice until they are cleared with a physical. No players can compete in a game without 14 days of practices, with scrimmages counting as a practice.

Athletic directors are expected back from vacation and need to start clearing transfers and submitting paperwork to the Southern Section and City Section if they want players eligible next month. Last fall resulted in lots of controversy as numerous players were declared ineligible for falsifying paperwork. Bishop Montgomery, which suspended its program, is back with a new coaching staff and new athletic director.

St. John Bosco, the preseason No. 1 team in The Times’ top 25 rankings, begins preparation for its Aug. 21 road opener in Las Vegas against Bishop Gorman.

In the City Section, teams that suspended their seasons in 2025 — Sotomayor, Torres, West Adams and L.A. Jordan — are making another try to play varsity football.

The City Section lost its most experienced and winningest coach, Robert Garrett, who left Crenshaw in March after being reassigned.

Girls’ flag football begins acclimation practices in the Southern Section on Aug. 3 and can begin playing games on Aug. 8.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times .

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