Coming off another successful season, the Dripping Springs Tigers football team looks to make improvements for the 2018 campaign during spring practices, which began April 24.
The Tigers went 11-1 in the 2017 season and were district champions. The team made it to the second round of playoffs before falling 28-21 to the Foster Falcons.
With more than 40 seniors graduating, the Tigers are left with a young team for next season. Head coach Galen Zimmerman said his team needs to focus on the fundamentals of football.
“We graduated quite a few starters and we are just trying to find some kids to step up and some that will go up in some stats, so we are trying to find the best fit for our team this year,” Zimmerman said.
Zimmerman said his team needs to grow up fast, and they are doing a great job and are very coachable.
With the end of the school year comes the end of spring ball. Zimmerman hopes his team can get out of the thinking mode, and focus on the reaction mode.
“I hope what they achieve is a sense of confidence, there are some guys that are going to be doing some new things and young guys that are going to play,” Zimmerman said. “I just think they need to see what they are capable of and have confidence in that.”
During the spring season Zimmerman has seen lots of success from the younger guys who are stepping up for the upcoming season. The team has been playing fast and more physical, and that’s all Zimmerman could have asked for.
“I think we have established some consistency,” Zimmerman said. “Every year the team looks different, every year you graduate kids and it’s going to feel like a different team, but I still feel like for our kids the expectations are that we are going to work hard and have a successful year.”
With the UIL realignment, the Tigers will be playing in a new district for the 2018 season. They have been put in the Region III District 12 area, and are now playing teams from the Austin area such as McCallum and Reagan.
Even with the change in district, Zimmerman is not worried about his team and hopes to have another successful season.
“I think our kids’ expectations are we are going to compete and wanting to be 1-0 every week that’s all we have to worry about,” Zimmerman said. “Just focus on getting better and then the by-product of that is hard work that focus and that consistency is success and that has really kind of been our focus to win one day at a time.”
