That happened Saturday evening at Munson Stadium when more than a thousand people gathered to witness the second annual "Meet the Jackets" night.
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| DHS takes to the field for the 2013 "Meet the Jackets" night at Munson Stadium. |
Rogers, about to begin his second year at the helm of the Yellow Jackets' program, was quite pleased with the size of the crowd and the enthusiasm it showed.
"It was awesome!," said Rogers. "We had a great crowd and got to recognize some cross country (athletes), cheerleaders, the Stingerettes, the football team, the volleyball team, etc. The participation numbers are way up and it was a really exciting night."
The celebratory night of all things black and gold capped the Jackets' first week of fall practice which was a week earlier than most 4A programs on the team's schedule.
That earlier entrance into two-a-day workouts came when Rogers opted to skip spring football earlier this year in lieu of gaining an extra week of August workouts and an extra scrimmage.
How did that first week of workouts go?
"We really feel comfortable with where we're at," said Rogers. "I really like where our team's attitude is, their mental toughness, the way that they're learning the game. It's been a great first week, it's been one of the best first weeks I've been around as far as learning the game (goes)."
Following Friday's first day on the field in pads, Rogers admits that he's interested to see how contact goes this next week.
"We're getting our bodies into shape (for contact)," he said. "Right now, I think it was a gain for us to (choose this extra week of fall practice)."
The Denison head coach says that he is also very pleased with the mental side of the Jackets' game so far.
"I was talking to Coach Knox, our o-line coach, and he was talking about how good the retention is because we have so many returners back," said Rogers. "There's a lot of retention carryover.
"That's what you kind of build off of (with a team like this)," he added. "When you have spring ball (and) you don't have a lot of returners, (then) you work through it (spring ball) and you want to teach the game so that there's retention in the fall."
"We think we've done the right thing," said Rogers. "We'll know in a couple of weeks."
That of course, will be on Aug. 30 when the Jackets travel to Frisco to open the 2013 regular season against the Centennial Titans.
One of several rising programs in the Frisco ISD, the Titans have gone 19-1 over the past two regular seasons with back-to-back District 9-4A championships. That recent success includes a 45-9 win against Denison last year at Munson Stadium in what was Rogers first game as the head coach of the Jackets.
The Titans has also enjoyed plenty of playoff success during the past two years, losing 52-31 to Corsicana in the third round of the 4A Division II playoffs in 2011. Last year the Titans fell to Tyler John Tyler by a 38-24 count in the Class 4A Division I Quarterfinals
While the Jackets have plenty of "remember the Titans" moments from last season to fuel them over the next two weeks, the second week of fall practices will bring preparation for a Saturday morning scrimmage at Munson Stadium against 3A Princeton High.
The freshmen will scrimmage first, followed by the JV. The Princeton scrimmage will be capped when the 2013 Jackets varsity hits the field around 11:30 a.m.
With a week of work to go before that public unveiling of his 2013 team, Rogers is looking for a strong showing next Saturday.
"I know that if our kids keep working as hard as they are, they keep paying attention to the details, and they keep developing the team chemistry that's coming together, it's an exciting time."
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