Since August 14, the Lion football program has been working on their preseason regiment to prepare for the upcoming season. After 11 days of working in the weight room, conditioning, and playing, the players are hoping that they’ve built a good base to start the season off of.

“We’ve prepared a lot and changed a lot,” junior Rashad Carter said. “We have also have some personnel changes and have been working really hard in the weight room, so we’ve gotten a lot bigger, faster and stronger. This year we’re much closer as a team.”

To head coach Tim Smith, one of the biggest attributes coming out of the summer has been the closeness of the team.

“Our culture [that] we’ve built here is that everyone is really tight; they’re all friends, and they’re all Lions,” Smith said. “The seniors have bought into training the young [players] and it’s really impressive how they’ve helped the younger kids grow.”

For some of the older players on the team, this is the last preseason they will have together; the last first game together, and their last season together.

“It’s exciting [to be a senior], but at the same time it’s like that this is it, so it’s a lot of pressure,” senior Alex Williams said. “We have a lot of skill players from the junior class, but the senior class is definitely a lot stronger than some of the other classes. Now it’s just time to play.”

The Lions’ first game will be on Thursday, August 31 at home against the Ellison Eagles. The schedule is available here.

“We’re Leander, so everyone plays hard, [and] they understand the purpose of why we’re playing and [of] our culture,” Smith said. “We’re a little bit younger, so we have more to learn, but I think they’ll come around and we’ll be pushing for a playoff spot.”