LOS FRESNOS — Just one week into their preseason, the Los Fresnos Falcons have looked like they haven’t missed a beat from the end of last season.
After a strong summer in which Los Fresnos head coach Patrick Brown said his players went the extra mile, the Falcons’ energy is high.
“We had a vast majority of our kids show up all summer long, so we hit the ground running,” Brown said. “I was very proud of the numbers we had … I’m very happy with where we’re at right now. We’re not having to kill the kids conditioning-wise and we can focus on football stuff because a lot of our kids are ready to go.”
With the Falcons in good shape, a lot of the first week of practice revolved around readying the offensive side of the ball.
With a young crop of players set to take the field for the Los Fresnos offense, getting to reps earlier has been a plus, especially with an experienced defense working against them in-house.
“We are going to have a lot of new faces with probably nine new starters in that group and one of them is a sophomore,” Brown said. “We’re going to be young, so we’re trying to break that group in. Our defense has a few kids coming back and they are very, very solid, so they’ve been getting after our offense pretty good.
“We’re trying to get our offense some confidence and trying to jell our o-line, trying to find out who our quarterback is going to be and that’s what our focus is right now.”
Even with the new faces, the Falcons offense doesn’t believe there has been much of a drop off.
“It’s just correcting little mistakes here and there.” junior tailback Albert Banuelos said. “That’s what leads us to a good day of practice, a better day of practice and better preparation for the games. People have to step up and play a bigger role, but honestly, everyone is doing their job.
“Our staff is just trying to push us harder to get further than we did last year. Every day is come out and do better than yesterday.”
And as a whole, the Falcons have looked comfortable in Brown’s system.
Even with the summer sun beating down on the team during tough workouts, the process hasn’t felt as strenuous under the second-year coach.
“Coach is pretty consistent with his beliefs in training and practice,” said senior linebacker Sebastian Gonzales. “The biggest difference has been the cultural difference. It hasn’t felt like a grind, things are more fun and we’re always fresher on game days.
“This year, everyone is working hard and came in with a lot of energy and that’s what we need, a lot of competition.”
For Brown, he hopes that mentality and competitiveness will lead to continued success in the program.
“Since we have good numbers, it creates a high level of competition,” Brown said. “If you’re starting right now, you know that kid in back of you is just a step behind you. If you’re going to start here, you’re going to compete for that job every single day. That’s helping our young kids understand that you can’t come out here without 100 percent effort and keep your position.
“That’ll benefit us and I know we’re still struggling a little scheme-wise, but the effort is there for sure.”