Burnet football turns attention to formal practices
CAPTION: Defensive assistant coach Russell Houston (left) talks to defensive coordinator Jordan Heusinkveld between 7-on-7 games. Staff photo by Jennifer Fierro
The Burnet High School football program officially begins preparations for the 2025 season Monday, Aug. 4.
The varsity and junior varsity competes from 2:30-5:30 p.m., while the freshman go from 6-7:30 a.m. at Burnet High School. The Bulldogs will end the first week with an intrasquad scrimmage at 8 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 9, which is a program tradition.
The Bulldogs will have eight practices before the first day of school, which is Wednesday, Aug. 13.
Head coach Ben Speers, who is entering his second season at the helm, is excited about this season for many reasons.
One of the biggest is because of the work the Bulldogs put in during the offseason and summer that illustrates they’re ready to face the August heat and coaches can get to what everyone wants faster – playing football.
Practices will be filled with position-specific drill work then the players will divide into offensive and defensive units. Many times, the running backs and the offensive linemen work together as they go through each running play, while the quarterbacks and the receivers are on another end of the field working on the passing plays.
Then they’ll get together and go through the schemes in 11-on-11 plays.
For the skill players, much of what they’re doing is a continuation of what they did during 7 on 7 in May and June where offensive coordinator Colton Brewer and defensive coordinator Jordan Heusinkveld were the primary voices the Bulldogs heard, while Speer was with the subvarsities on other fields.
“Ninety percent of my time was spent with the junior varsity,” Speer said. “I thought it was important I develop relationships with them and to let the coordinators coach the varsity.”
The helped fulfill a pledge Speer made to Heusinkveld when he was hired a year ago to take his old job of defensive coordinator – call the defensive plays during varsity games. Speer kept the play calling duties in 2024, a task he held for years under his former boss and head coach Bryan Wood. The reason Speer retained that part of the job was for continuity. But he’s giving that up this season.
“That’s what I promised coach Heusinkveld,” he said. “I asked him to give us a year.”
The Bulldogs will still operate out of their base 3-4 look in their defensive front, but there’s little question it’s Heusinkveld’s unit.
“He has ideas he want to do,” Speer said. “He brings some big energy. He’s excited about that. There’s not much of a change for those guys. We’ll still do endless pursuit of the ball – that’s Bulldog football. An attacking defense keeps us in games. We have to do some things different and really, really pursue the ball to win or be competitive to give us a chance to win. I’m good with those things. I’ll keep an eye on it.”
Speer envisions communication with his coordinators mirroring how he and Wood talked. There were times one of them saw something and conveyed it to the other. At times, the listener already knew. But there were moments where the listener hadn’t noticed it until the communicator said it.
That allowed their units to get in and out of different plays, show different looks and try to confuse the opponent.
“We’ll make sure those kids are doing their parts,” Speer said.
Every head coach wears a headset and listens to the play calling from both coordinators. It’s known that the head coach has the power to veto a call or tell the coordinators that he wants to see a specific play or action in the next series. Sometimes it’s running the football to milk the clock. Other times it could be playing prevent defense to protect a lead or not allow the opponent to get a quick score at the end of a half or the game.
There are all sorts of reasons why a head coach speaks up, and Speer is no different, he said.
“I’ll have more time to watch the offense and give more input,” he said. “We’re not coordinating or seeing the game differently. The best thing about this year is I’ll be able to see them as a whole, I’ll be able to stand back and get a whole picture or view of it and give suggestions. You do enjoy someone else looking over your shoulder. It’s great to have experience you can rely on to give advice. That’s part of my job as the head coach.”
CAPTION: Offensive coordinator Colton Brewer speaks to the Bulldogs as they rest between 7-on-7 contests as senior tight end Riley Howell (left) listens. Staff photo by Jennifer Fierro
