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Practice starts on Monday, Aug. 6 with three or four days of conditioning prior to the first day of workouts in full pads. The heat could be oppressive at times, but the spirits will be high.

For the Kalkaska High School Blazers, the first practice also marks the beginning of a new era.

Kevin Taylor stepped down as head football coach at the end of last season, after 16 years at the helm. Ted Collins, 36, assumes command after having success as an assistant coach at Cadillac under Irv Sigler, III, and more recently as the head man at Atlanta.

Collins' first practice with the Blazers is scheduled for 7 a.m. on Aug. 6, and will run until around 11 a.m. so the team - and, coincidentally, the coaches - can escape the heat and humidity of the afternoon.

Players are reminded that they need to have their physicals turned in at the school office, or coaches, as soon as possible.

Temperatures were expected to reach 90 degrees this week, with high humidity, so it definitely could be extremely hot and stuffy the first week of practice.

But, there's an excitement in the air with the approach of a new season.

And, perhaps, a little trepidation as the team anticipates learning a new system with a new boss calling the shots.

Practices will run in the morning for the first couple of weeks, anyway, until school opens on Sept. 4. The Blazers play two regular season games before then.

"I think the big thing is it can really help build your team," Collins said of practicing two weeks before school starts. "I don't know how we can get around it. I think this is the way it's going to be in future.

"To me, it gives these kids more of a chance just to be together. It's a chance for them to grow together. There are some positives to it, and I know there are some negatives to it."

Collins, whose wife teaches in Lewiston, is going to commute from his home near Atlanta to Kalkaska for practices and games until he can find a place in the area.

Tough schedule

He's excited about the opportunity to continue the program Taylor has built at Kalkaska, while at the same time putting his own stamp on the Blazers.

"Taylor has agreed to help out, and that's going to be huge," Collins said. "I respect him so much as a coach, and he'll be a tremendous asset."

Kalkaska faces a tough challenge succeeding in the highly competitive Lake Michigan Conference, with defending state champion Traverse City St. Francis always fielding a great team every year and the team to beat.

East Jordan and Harbor Springs have new coaches as well, and there's always the fear of the unknown. Collins doesn't have any idea what type of offense or defense either will run this year.

Boyne City made the playoffs for the sixth consecutive season last year, after finishing 6-3 with a victory in the final game of the regular season.

"We're looking at getting the kids to learn a new system, getting the kids to buy into a new system," Collins said. "I think that's kind of the key. "Everyone's going to by vying for the top spots in the conference. Charlevoix and Boyne City can compete with St. Francis easily right now, because they've competed very well against St. Francis.

"From top to bottom, it's very hard to say who is going to be where (in the conference) when the season is over."

Collins looks at each conference game as a rivalry game.

"It's a unique situation," he said. "Coaching in Atlanta, some of your teams were two hours away. The kids didn't know people from Hale, or from AuGres.

"They know people from Charlevoix. The Kalkaska kids know everybody in the conference. I think it's a tighter league. The schools are a lot closer together, the kids know each other.

"And they see each other in Traverse City all the time. They see each other at all the festivals. So, I just think every week you've got rivalry games, and every week you've got a high level of competition."

Which makes it fun for the fans, and players. But it gives the coaches grey hair.