By GERARD WELLBROCK
Voice of the Tigers
HAYS – The Fort Hays State football team held their first official practice of the 2024 season Monday morning at Lewis Field.
Chris Brown enters his 13th season as the Tigers head coach and was happy with what he saw in the two-plus hour workout.
“Great energy, great excitement.” Brown said. “Kids went really hard. There was great effort across the board on both sides of the ball. I was proud of them. I mean, they're good communication. You could feel the energy as each play was going on.”
“Guys were making plays on both sides of the ball as well, which is great to see, but these guys got better in the summer. You can tell there's some great leadership. You can tell there's other guys trying to step up and be leaders as well, so I'm very pleased with day one."
“Just the ownership of this team, holding guys accountable, making sure they're lining up properly, making sure they're playing hard, making sure they're finishing plays.” Brown said. “Right now, I think the best thing is we have some depth at all positions, and that's awesome because we haven't had that in years past. So we’ve got guys stepping up and doing what they need to do to help improve this team.”
Despite having a veteran team, Brown says all stating positions are up for grabs.
“You look at every position that we have right now, there's a competition going on to see who's going to start, and that's awesome. And that's what you've got to have to be a great football team. Those guys competing every single day to win that starting job.”
The Tigers open the 2024 season on Thursday, August 29 at home against Angelo State.