Football underway: A look at each team’s key issues

The calendar says it’s August. It’s the hottest month in Texas. But it’s the month where the heat just doesn’t matter.

August is the month where the excitement builds, the helmets and pads are worn and playing for keeps is a reality. No other high school sport in this state draws as much interest in its preseason than this one. Honestly, you can’t even name which sport runs second.

Texas high school football begins its push toward the Saturday before Christmas at AT&T Stadium (state championship weekend) in Arlington. For all our Northeast Tarrant County coverage teams, the work begins on Monday. For programs that didn’t have spring football, they started this past Monday.

The season starts on Aug. 25. It’s right there.

Realignment brought this area a lot of change. Grapevine and Colleyville Heritage are reunited in Class 5A. Northwest Byron Nelson shares a district with Carroll and Euless Trinity for the first time. Justin Northwest drops down to Class 5A. Northwest V.R. Eaton prepares for its first varsity season and is in the same 5A district as Northwest.

More story lines will occur. But as the first practice approaches, this is the opportune time to get you ready for the one key issue that each program faces as fall camp starts.

Southlake Carroll, Hal Wasson – Developing the receiving corps is a pretty major task. While a couple of spots have been determined, the other spots have not been finalized. There will always be players who will compete.

Colleyville Heritage, Joe Willis – Skill positions are no problem. Developing offensive and defensive line depth is still a concern. And that’s something this program was still trying to determine when fall camp finished in May.

Grapevine, Randy Jackson – While it’s a good thing to have quarterback Alan Bowman returning, there still is some concern over who exactly is playing wide receiver. The spring showed some positive signs. But there are about four or five competitors trying to turn heads.

Justin Northwest, Bill Poe – Becoming a little more certain about the running game is going to be critical. The Texans have the quarterback in Prince Mavula and the playmaker wide receiver in Gavin Holmes. Northwest didn’t have a running back eclipse 400 yards in 2015.

Keller, Carl Stralow – Developing experience is something that this program can only do once the season begins. The Indians lost 48 seniors, including 17 starters (11 who went to play in college). While there is talent, it’s just unknown how this group will react.

Keller Central, Bart Helsley – While the Chargers have four offensive line spots filled, there is still need for a fifth. And you have to have five to play. There are three players competing for that last spot. Once that is answered, then the Chargers should be ready.

Keller Fossil Ridge, Tony Baccarini – The key is making sure new starting quarterback Max Akin, is going to be comfortable running this offense. He also has to break in some new receivers. Reps, reps and more reps.

Keller Timber Creek, Kevin Golden – Defensive inexperience is going to be something that this coaching staff can’t create. It’s going to be putting the new 11 in all types of situations and seeing how they react.

Northwest Byron Nelson, Travis Pride – It goes back to the defensive front. Tristan Allen is the lone known returner. But Allen is going to have to have some help if the Bobcats are going to be a surprise team.

Northwest V.R. Eaton, Brad Turner – A first-year program will always be concerned about a lack of seniors. But this program is going to have to search for a little more depth at linebacker for the coaching staff to feel better about the defense’s prospects.

Notable…

The Nelson girls basketball program suffered a terrible blow not long ago. Junior guard/forward Hunter Roach suffered a knee injury and is likely lost for the season from what we understand. It’s definitely not the news that first-year head coach Jim Avery needed. But injuries are part of any sport.

This story was originally published August 1, 2016 at 12:22 PM with the headline "Football underway: A look at each team’s key issues."