By Rick Pedone

Sports Editor

Spring football practice got under way last weekend with an added sense of urgency at four Osceola County high schools that have new head coaches.

Debuting on the practice fields with their teams are Osceola High’s Doug Nichols, Poinciana’s Michael Timpson, Celebration’s Ben Aarestad and Liberty’s interim head coach, David Benson.

Returning to their teams are St. Cloud’s Mark Jackson, Harmony’s Dayne Brown and Gateway’s Marlin Roberts.

For the new head coaches, the past two months have been hectic as they learn about their players and begin putting their coaching staffs in place.

Nichols, who moved from Liberty to OHS last month, said that several assistants from Jeff Rolson’s staff will remain at OHS, and former OHS assistant David Holder, once the head coach at Celebration, will return. Nichols said at least one more staff addition is expected soon. Nichols, who ran his first OHS practice Saturday, replaced Rolson, who accepted the job at Springfield Rutherford in March.

Timpson also scheduled practices Saturday. The former Penn State and New England Patriot receiver said things are going well since he arrived in March.

“I know there are athletes on this campus, and the players we have are doing a great job in the weight room,” he said.

Benson said the Chargers would build on last season’s 8-3 record and Scholarship Bowl victory.

Liberty began drills Monday because several coaches on the staff had mandatory classroom training Saturday.

“Things are looking good. We have to replace our three best defensive players, which will be a hard task,” Benson said. “Our defensive line will return four starters. That and our secondary will be our strength.”

Aarestad got things rolling at Celebration Saturday.

“I have an idea of the athletes we’ve got from seeing them in track and weightlifting,” he said. “The key is to keep it simple. We’ll keep things similar to what they’ve done here on offense. I’ll be putting in my playbook on defense. Like I told the kids, the best part of a coaching change is that everyone will have a chance to win a job. The best players will play.”

Practice concludes with games later this month.

Gateway plays at Lake Nona May 20 at 7 p.m. and Celebration goes to Poinciana May 21 at 7 p.m.

Harmony travels to Daytona Beach Seabreeze May 27 at 7 p.m. Three games are set May 28: Osceola at Ridge Community at 7:30 p.m., Lake Region at Liberty at 7 p.m. and St. Cloud at Olympia at 7 p.m.