(IN FIRST PERSON: Jackson senior hopes an active summer pays off this fall.) As I sit here to write this story, we've had three practices, two yesterday and one this morning.

I'm not too worn out right now because of the workouts I did this summer.

Our first day of practice didn't go so well, probably just because we've had a week off with no workouts. It took a little while to get used to the heat.

It was a busy summer for me.

Some days started at about 5:30 a.m. with weightlifting at 6.

Pretty much the whole team came to these workouts.

Some of the older guys had to work in the mornings, but for the most part, everybody was there.

We'd start off doing agility drills for about 20 minutes to get our heart rate up, then we'd lift.

To tell you the truth, at the beginning of the summer it was easier to get up early. As the summer went on, it seemed to get more and more difficult.

We alternated workouts on our upper and lower bodies on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday and on Tuesday and Thursday evenings we met for passing drills.

At 8 a.m. Monday through Thursday earlier in the summer, I participated in the Acceleration Program at St. Francis.

We'd run on the treadmill on Monday and then on Tuesday we'd come in and do plyometrics, leg lifts and a few arm lifts. Wednesdays, we'd be back on the treadmill again and then Thursday we'd lift some more.

I feel a lot faster moving from side to side now, but I don't think my 40 time improved that much. It could be that my legs were tired when I post-tested. My legs got so much stronger because of the different lifts we did there.

Right after my Acceleration workout, I'd head back to Jackson to teach swimming lessons from about 9:30 to noon. Then, I usually worked from 12:30 p.m. to 8 as a lifeguard so I kept myself busy all summer.

Hopefully, all the hard work will pay off this fall.

Senior leadership

Pretty much since junior high, this senior class has played well together and this year seniors will fill most of the starting positions.

My eighth grade year, we went 6-1. My ninth grade year, we went 8-1. Our varsity went 10-2 when I was a sophomore and 9-1 last year.

So we've only lost five games in the last four years.

In junior high, we didn't even have Mario Whitney. We didn't have a lot of size. We just played hard-nosed football and always seemed to get the job done.

Coach Gross has always been excited about our class. I remember him saying my ninth grade year we could win state by the time we were seniors.

Accentuating the positives

I'm excited about this team.

First of all, we've got Mario and we've got four offensive linemen coming back in Pete Ressler, Kyle Perry, Luke Wade and Travis Dambach.

I think our passing game will be better this year.

The last couple of years, we've had a certain go-to receiver, but this year our receiving corps will be more balanced and the quarterback will be forced to make decisions.

On defense, we'll miss Caleb Daniel and Pat McComas on the ends, but we get most our other guys back and our defense could be better than last year.

Dambach and Pete were defensive tackles last year and they'll be back to anchor our D-line.

We run a 4-3 most of the time and I play middle linebacker. My primary job is to read the guards and the fullback.

Seth McDowell and James Love will be the outside linebackers and Perry will play a lot there too.

I think we'll be fine on defense with a lot of guys having experience.

Mario told me he wants to play more defense and that would help our team a lot, but I'm not sure if coach Gross will let him.

All together, underclassmen included, we've all worked real hard together this summer. As the start of the season approaches, I realize our schedule is not the toughest in the world. But we can't overlook anybody and we'll have to play 110 percent for 48 minutes every Friday night.

Another big key is how we practice. We need to keep up our intensity throughout the season.

Our biggest goal is to make it out of district and see what happens. I think after last year's game with Poplar Bluff, they're our biggest rival. We care about Cape Central because of the history associated with that rivalry, but there's more at stake when we play Bluff.

Everyone's talking about the Poplar Bluff game and how we should've beaten them last year. This year, we get them at home and we're looking forward to it.

I think we've got a lot to prove this year.

I read a story in the Sikeston Democrat the other day predicting that Poplar Bluff would beat us again this year. I won't predict that we'll win.

But I will predict that if we play Jackson football the way we know, the way we have since my eighth grade year, our biggest goal will be met.

And we'll get at least one more home game.