By Steve Bowman
Editor, The Brentwood Spirit 

It used to be that a high school football player worked out on his own all summer, or foolishly chose not to,  before finally undergoing the crucible of two-a-day practices in August. 

But not in Brentwood. Not anymore. 

Brentwood High School’s new football coach, Keith Herring, believes the old model won’t be enough to make his team competitive. Especially not this season when new offensive and defensive schemes are being introduced. So he created a summer schedule for his players that should have them almost ready to play even before practice officially starts on August 8. By then, they will have already been through: 

• a spring weightlifting program

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•  a football camp in June to introduce players to the new system
•  a grueling week of two-a-day practices for conditioning (this week)

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•  a full schedule of games against other schools in a seven-on-seven league

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•  a weekly practice for linemen

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•  a weekly practice for the whole team

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•  a coach-supervised summer weightlifting program, four days a week, in the BHS weight room.  

Jeff Speaks (left) and a teammate collide. (Photo by Steve Bowman)

Don’t worry, Herring isn’t breaking any rules. He has carefully planned the preseason to comply with the MSHSAA’s rule about having no more than 25 contact practices. But he is a bit gung-ho. After all, he and his offensive coordinator Tim Kuhn most recently led the football program at Class 6 Hazelwood West High School, where they supervised about 140 players. At Class 2 Brentwood, there were 38 players at the June football camp. 

“We’re getting better every week,” said Herring. “Basically we’ve got our three main formations in now, with 80 percent of our running plays. We’ve got 25 days to use and I feel like we’ve got to use them. I don’t think we’re physically ready yet, conditioning-wise, but that’ll come. During the week of two-a-days [July 25-29] we’re going to turn up the heat on them a little bit.” 

Brentwood’s backs, receivers and linebackers have benefited from playing in a seven-on-seven league. They’ve met weekly to play three or four 20-minute games against other high schools. The offense runs pass plays and there’s no tackling and no pads. 

“We’re running our pass plays in it,” said Herring. “We can learn the pass routes and see who’s going to be a playmaker. And the real important thing is that we’re learning the defense, the coverages. And we get to see those against quality teams.” 

Senior Nick Featherston and junior Jordan Groth are competing to be the starting quarterback. “Both Jordan and Nick are getting better,” said Herring. “We’re starting to learn the concepts and the routes and all that. I can’t tell you who the starter will be, but whoever is not will still be playing a lot, on both offense and defense.”