The Marshall County Tigers football team strapped on the pads for the first time on Monday morning when they held a brisk two-hour practice to kick off the start of two-a-days.

After MCHS finished with a 5-6 record last season and reached the first round of the Class 4A playoffs, second-year head coach Aaron Pitts believes his players should have a better grasp of his offensive and defensive schemes as they prepare for the 2013 campaign.

'Little things right'

"Having been in the system for a year, the players have a better understanding of what I expect. Hopefully we can keep moving in the right direction. We want to do the little things right. If we do that, the rest will take care of itself," said Pitts.

Monday morning's practice began with the players going through drills with their respective position coaches before the first and second team offenses worked against their defensive counterparts in a controlled scrimmage with the Tigers maintaining a fast tempo throughout.

"I'm very excited. You go through the summer workouts, but it's really exciting when you put on the pads because you know the season is going to start soon. You also start finding out who's worked the hardest during the offseason," said Pitts. "You don't have to be out here for three or four hours to get things done. We're trying to work at game speed and put them in game situations in practice so that they can play fast. We want to push the tempo in practice so the games are easier."

All for one

When a player failed to maintain the tempo or did not show the effort that the coaching staff desired, the rest of his teammates also participated in his extra conditioning drills in order raise the level of accountability within the ranks of the team.

"It's all about accountability. When you jump off sides in a game, it doesn't just hurt you it hurts the entire team. We trying to cut down on our mistakes and achieve perfection," said Pitts.

Led by massive senior defensive tackle Jay Murphy, the defense held the upper hand for most of the scrimmage, but Marshall County senior quarterback Austin Stacey threw the ball well when given time and appears to have a bevy of talented skill position players to work with.

New coaches

Pitts also welcomes three new members to his coaching staff in Chris Johnson (defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach), Pedro Holiday (wide receivers coach), and Jordan Turner (offensive line coach).

"I'm very excited about these guys coming to our staff. I played with Chris and Pedro at MTSU and I coached Jordan the first time I was at Marshall County. I know they're going to work hard and do things the right way," said Pitts.

MCHS football fans will get a chance to check out the Tigers before the start of the season when Marshall County takes on David Lipscomb in the Pigskin Preview on Friday, Aug. 16th, at Preston Hopkins Field.