Donovan, Huskies get started

The season is still a month away, but one area high school football team has opened its practices already.

Under new head coach Joe Donovan, the Highland football team opened its camp this week, and the Huskies are ready to get things started.

?I?m excited to get going,? Donovan said. ?If you are football coach you don?t really stop thinking about it. This camp is going to get us ready for next week?s team camp, then I?m going to give them a week off. It breaks up the monotony of grinding it out to your first game. The week off refreshes them, and lets us digest a bit. Then they come back more refreshed and excited.?

Donovan, who coached Pekin to an 11-1 record last season before falling in the state quarterfinals, is familiar with the Huskies after spending time as an assistant with the man he is succeeding, Tony Johnson.

That familiarity helped him make the decision to move to the Highland school district.

?I was an assistant here back in the late ?90s, and so I?m from the area,? Donovan said. ?It felt right. I?m familiar with the district and it seemed like a good fit.?

While some coaching transitions can create tension, Donovan thinks his system and familiarity with Highland will help the players adjust to a new style.

?It?s not totally foreign to them,? Donovan said. ?(Former Highland head coach) Tony Johnson and I were both assistants here, so there is some familiar terminology there.?

Highland went 3-6 last season, despite opening the year with a 3-1 record, and lost eight seniors from last year?s roster.

With a lot of turnover, Donovan hopes to bring a winning mentality to the team.

?I think we are going to bring a great attitude to practice every day, and a great attitude about how fortunate we are to play this game,? Donovan said. ?We are going to put in a system that allows them to play football. We want to engage them, but yet allow them to play. It needs to be something they have fun playing.?

Donovan noted that to put that attitude in place, it?s all going to have to start with this year?s seniors.

?I always rely on our seniors,? Donovan said. ?I don?t like to put pressure on kids, but we are going to have a handful of seniors and I?ll rely on them to lead us down that path. That?s what seniors do. They?ve been here, so I?m looking to them to communicate with me and help us go in the right direction.?

For Highland, the biggest obstacle they will face isn?t with talent or mentality, but just getting kids on the field.

?(Our biggest challenge is) numbers,? Donovan said. ?We are missing some kids for drivers ed or some other camps, but we just have to build numbers. If we do that, we?ll have some depth created and create some competition among each other to make us better. It?s just about getting kids out.?

With camp just getting under way, Donovan already has a head start on earning his players? trust, spending all summer in the weight room with the team. With a month to go before the season, however, Donovan is just focusing on the basics.

?I?ve been here for weights all summer, so I?ve gotten to know the names of the kids,? Donovan said. ?Learning terminology is always a crawl, and it?ll get faster every day. We can only do it a day at a time, so right now, it?s just making sure they know their positions.?