By Randy Stevens
Sports Editor
San Marcos —
Snap, crackle and pop is the sound a lot of us hear in the morning with a bowl of cereal. For area high school football teams, including the San Marcos Rattlers, those sounds took on a whole new meaning Friday and Saturday mornings with the start of full-contact workouts.
The fully-clad Rattlers took to the field at 7:30 a.m. Friday morning and went through a spirited and hard-hitting, two-hour workout before taking a break and hitting the field for another 90 minute seasons along with weight and conditioning drills.
SMHS head coach Steve Van Nest said he was pleased with his team’s attitude and drive during the first couple days of full contact.
“This is time when we see who wants to play football or not, and right now, we have a lot of players that are fired up and getting after it,” Van Nest said. “We’re excited about what we have seen so far.”
One player in particular will be attracting a lot of attention from the SMHS coaching staff. Senior Terrance Wilburn begins his first season as the Rattlers starting quarterback, a position he hasn’t played at the varsity level.
Wilburn looked mobile and quick in pads, and displayed a good touch on short passing drills, especially when the Rattlers were working on their goal-line offense.
“He’s one of our best athletes on the team and we’re expecting a some good things for us this year,” Van Nest said. “He’s a leader on and off the field and the kind of kid that you want leading your football team.”
Van Nest and his staff are also paying attention to a number of starting position battles on the defensive front and backfield. Van Nest said some of those position battles might not be decided until days before the team’s opener on Aug. 27.
“Nothing is for certain during these first few weeks, and if someone outworks or out-hustles someone who’s higher on the depth chart, then they will earn that spot,” Van Nest said. “We have a lot of players working hard just to do that.”
San Marcos didn’t host its annual intrasquad scrimmage on Saturday, instead opting for a game-time scenarios during practice. The Rattlers host their first scrimmage Saturday at 2 p.m. at Bobcat Stadium.
The following week, SMHS gets its first taste of Class 5A football this season when the Snakes travel to Waco Aug. 20 6:30 for a scrimmage against Tyler-Lee.
San Marcos opens the season Aug. 27 at home against Marble Falls.
New Web site devoted to high school football
Here in the Lone Star State, we love our high school football.
So much, we’ll sit in the heat, rain and cold just to watch young players put it all on the line for the pride of their community.
That’s why CNHI has created Friday Night Central (www.fridaynightcentral.com), a web site devoted to the high school teams that are covered by the chain’s newspapers, including the programs we follow at the San Marcos Daily Record.
The site includes, scores, schedules and rosters, but is also a fan-friendly site as fans can upload their own photos, as well as comment on their favorite team using their Facebook account.
Each high school covered by the Daily Record will have its own varsity football page. That includes San Marcos, Lehman, Wimberley, San Marcos Academy and Hays.
