By KEVIN ECKLEBERRY

Daily News

On a muggy Wednesday afternoon, the LaGrange Grangers and Troup Tigers jumped into spring practice.

With temperatures in the mid-80s, LaGrange and Troup both made the way to their respective practice fields for the opening session of their spring-practice periods.

The Callaway Cavaliers will begin spring practice today, and Lafayette Christian School got things started on Monday.

Callaway, LaGrange and Troup will each have nine practices leading up to their spring games in more than two weeks.

On May18, LaGrange will host Manchester and Troup will visit Newnan, and Callaway will be at Legion Field in Birmingham on May 19 to play Montgomery Catholic.

Wednesday was a milestone day at LaGrange since there was a new head coach at the helm in Chuck Gibbs, who has taken over Dialleo Burks, who stepped down after four seasons.

Gibbs was surrounded by many of the same coaches who were members of the 2017 staff, and they led dozens of LaGrange players through a two-hour practice session.

The Grangers are looking to bounce back from a winless 2017 season.

At Troup, fourth-year head coach Tanner Glisson was leading the players through the paces, and he said he was “proud of how they pushed through (the heat).”

The Tigers went 9-3 last season and reached the second round of the state playoffs, and many of the players responsible for that success have returned.

While the Tigers didn’t lose many players from last year’s team, Glisson said it’s still a challenge to replace a departed senior class.

“There’s a lot of people that will look at it and say you didn’t lose a whole lot, but you always lose senior leadership,” Glisson said. “You’ve got to see if this next group is going to be able to take over this senior leadership, and see how they handle that.

“Hopefully they’ll take the bull by the horns and try to run with it, and try to be a good example. It’ll be a wait and see thing.”

Callaway, coming off an 11-2 season that ended in the Class AA quarterfinals, will hit the field today under Pete Wiggins, who is in his 14th season as the team’s head coach.

Lafayette Christian, after taking a break on Wednesday, will be on the field for its third spring practice today.

After spring practice ends, the local teams will turn their attention to the summer program, which features strength and conditioning, camps, and seven-on-seven competitions.

Preseason practices begins in the last week of July, and a new season gets underway in August.