Both the W.S. Neal Eagle and the T.R. Miller Tiger football teams began practice for their 2012 season.

W.S. Neal:
Second-year W.S. Neal Eagle head coach Doug Hoehn and his 2012 Eagle team took to the field early Monday morning in the start of two-a-days—but it was not a good practice according to Hoehn.
“I thought the first day Monday was sloppy,” he said. “Most first practices are sloppy. We need to get better quickly.”
While practice was sloppy, Hoehn did see some good things in Monday’s opener.
“I think the attitude was good today. We had the first-day jitters and the first-day sloppiness, but it was just the first day and most first days are.”
Hoehn and the Eagles worked out three days a week during the summer lifting weights and running along with other work.
“We worked our offensive and defensive schemes all summer long,” Hoehn said. “So the first day of practice is just the first official day of practice. There is nothing new that we did today that we have not been working on already during the summer. I think you just want to see a more of an organized practice and practice schedule and to be able to move from one task to another and grasp it more and keep up with the practice schedule.”
The Eagles will continue working this week in preparation for the 2012 season—a season that sees them drop down to class 3A.
“We will be doing two-a-days on Monday, Wednesday and Friday and then one-a-days on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday,” Hoehn said. “We will start Thursday with full pads.”
Hoehn and the Eagles will start their 2012 season off at home against Holtville Friday, Aug. 31 at W.S. Neal Eagle Stadium in East Brewton.
Teams, as mandated by the AHSAA, will go through three days of workouts in shorts and helmets and start full-pad sessions start Thursday.
T.R. Miller:
With the first official week of August came the first official fall practice date for football teams across the state of Alabama.
Locally, T.R. Miller joined other AHSAA schools Monday as they braved the heat to get ready for their first games Aug. 31 as they began preparation for their 2012 seasons.
T.R. Miller Tiger head coach Jamie Riggs said the first day of practice Monday was not too good.
“I didn’t think it was a very good practice,” Riggs said. “Actually the weather was not all that hot. The wind was blowing out here, but we were still dragging around. I have to do a better job to find some ways to motivate some folks and we just need to do a better job of being sharp. We were not very sharp mentally today I thought.”
During the summer, the Tigers worked out three days a week and did other things. That could have played a reason behind Monday’s lack-luster performance for the Tigers, Riggs said.
“It was the first day of practice and it is not as quite exciting to them as it used to be because we do so many things during the summer now,” he said. “I don’t think the heat had anything to do with it. I just don’t think we are where we need to be.”
In the first few days of practice, Riggs said he mainly just works on some fundamental things.
“We try to mix our team things in and we just really start to find out who looks like they are ready to play and do some things,” he said. “But you really can’t tell it until you get in pads. The first two or three days we just do some team things and then we really starting finding some things out on Thursday and Friday.”
The Tigers will work at 7 a.m. the rest of the week and then again on Monday morning before moving their practice to the afternoons on Tuesday, Aug. 14.
The Tigers will open their 2012 season on the road against the Escambia County Blue Devils of Atmore on Friday, Aug. 31 at 7 p.m.
T.R. Miller will play a preseason game at Flomaton on Friday, Aug. 24 at 7 p.m.
Teams, as mandated by the AHSAA, will go through three days of workouts in shorts and helmets and start full-pad sessions start Thursday.