With its participation in spring practices, Porter had to start its football season a week late.
Even so, the Cowboys got right to work Monday morning, picking up where they left off in the spring.
“It seems like a quick turnaround because of spring ball,” Porter coach Carlos Uresti said. “We were out here 2, 2 1/2 months ago, so it works well for us. The kids are fresh, everything’s fresh in their minds.”
Uresti, who served as the Cowboys’ offensive coordinator for the previous four seasons, is now at the helm. But he wasn’t about to change the team’s progression from the spring to the first practices of the season.
“The kids enjoy it and it gives them something to look forward to,” he said of spring practices. “They know what we’re doing out here, there’s no transition (to the new season).
“Everybody’s engaged … everybody’s working.”
The Cowboys players were eager to get on the practice field. They felt that with good participation in the spring, along with a full summer of conditioning and hitting the weight room, they’re better off than a season ago.
“We feel ready, we feel confident,” senior defensive tackle Abiel Lopez said. “We had a good offseason … we busted our tails, so we’re feeling pretty good.”
Two years ago, Porter earned a playoff berth but lost a large senior class to graduation. Last year, the Cowboys were young and inexperienced and endured a winless campaign. With another year of experience, Porter is ready to put last season behind it.
“It feels great to be back,” senior linebacker Christian Villa said. “We had a bad season last year, but spring ball helped out with younger guys.”
Porter was on the field going through individual drills and working on everything from linemen blocking, quarterbacks working on their footwork and receivers running routes.
Ramiro Martinez had mixed feelings about the start of practice. The senior quarterback/receiver was happy to be on the field, but was sad because it was his final season on the gridiron.
But Martinez was excited about the transition to Uresti’s era and the optimism has been contagious thus far throughout the team.
“It’s awesome, he was already part of the family,” Martinez said. “We feel comfortable. We trust in him … we believe in what he tells us. I feel like we’re going to have a good year.”
Enthusiasm aside, the Cowboys are focusing on finding a quarterback as practices opened. Benjamin Eckersley, who was slated to be the starting quarterback, has apparently decided to focus on basketball this season.
Uresti was disappointed, but was looking forward to the battle in practices for the starting job. Three players, including Martinez, are in the mix.
“There’s a good competition going on right now,” Uresti said. “It’s a healthy competition, to say the least. It’s unfortunate (about Eckersley), but we have to keep working on it … those kids are taking on the challenge of being the starting quarterback.”
Andrew Crum covers sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him at (956) 982-6629 or via email at [email protected]. On Twitter he’s @andrewmcrum.