For the first four days of the summer football season, the UIL mandates that teams hold an “acclimatization period.” No contact is permitted and only helmets can be worn. It’s not the most popular rule the UIL has among football coaches.

“Those first four days without pads are — they’re kind of miserable,” Hendrickson coach Chip Killian joked. “We did a lot of teaching and a lot of conditioning to get those guys in shape, and they did a good job.”