The 2020 preseason was unlike anything area football teams have experienced in our lifetime.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there were no typical summer workouts, scrimmages or 7-on-7s for teams to iron out schemes and game plans.

Marshall County coach Thomas Osteen is just happy to have his team back on the field in a mostly normal summer of workouts in preparation for the 2021 season.

“Number one thing is we're happy to be back to a mostly normal summer again. You don't realize how much you miss what you normally do until you missed it last year. We're back to normal workouts, 7-on-7's. Getting to build the team and develop your players is a little easier this year than it was last year.” he said.

Osteen says his team is shared in the excitement and the numbers are as healthy as can be expected for a difficult 4-A schedule.

“I think kids are itching for a normal school year and maybe itching more than ever to be part of something. We had 75 kids show up at least once this summer. Our numbers are still a little bit fluid until school starts, but we're going to be in that 65-70 range. For 4-A football, hopefully a good number,” he said.

The excitement of playing maybe goes a bit beyond just getting back to normal after having the summer extremely limited a season ago.

Osteen is high on his returning talent and believes his players are as well.

“I think they're definitely excited. You're always excited this time of year. We have a good core of guys who have played a lot of football, especially our skill players. We have a quarterback who will be a three-year starter. There's definitely some excitement,” he said.

That excitement has the Tiger coaching staff believing they can play with anyone on the 10-game gauntlet.

“I think we can compete with anybody on our schedule, but also we're not good enough to not play well. Anybody on our schedule can beat us. It will be a fun team to coach and watch play this fall,” Osteen said.

As the team gets back into a normal routine, the Tigers spent last week getting used to the summer heat and as of Monday of this week, is back in full pads for normal practice.

As the team gets back to full pads, Osteen says he's excited to get to know his team a little more and see what the roster has in store for 2021.

“You'll be able to tell or get surprised by a guy you didn't know about and maybe saddened by a guy who doesn't like the contact as much. But that happens every year. That's the fun of it,” he said.

While practice begins, the team will have a handful of scrimmages in the coming weeks as Marshall County prepares to kick off the season in just four weeks.

“We have three scrimmages again this year that we didn't have last year. We'll scrimmage Fairview at Fariview next Friday and then the next Friday we get Coffee County at home and then August 13 we have the jamboree at home against Page. As a coach, you want to have as many opportunities as you can to build your team,” Osteen said.

Marshall County kicks off the 2021 season at Columbia Central.