DECATUR — The first week of preseason practice has been all about the learning process for Decatur’s football team and firstyear coach Shane Holland.

“I’m trying to learn about them, and they’re trying to learn about me,” he said. “There’s new terminology that they are not used to, and a new system. So there’s a lot of learning to do.”

Holland said the numbers have been low so far. The Bulldogs have had only about 17 or 18 players report to practice, as well as a few junior high kids that have arrived.

“That’s not as good a number as I hoped to arrive,” he said. “It’s a little low, but I expect to gain some kids out here once school starts. It’s a big thing we are battling right now.

“We’ve not been able to dosome of the full team drills, but a blessing about that is we’ve had the opportunity to work on fundamentals. So we’ve spent a lot of this week on fundamentals.”

Junior quarterback Evan Owens, who was out all of last season with an injury, has been at the school almost every day since Holland took over and made an impression with his quickness and running ability. Tailback Mitchell Perry has been noted for his leadership and has lined up at linebacker in the offseason.

“It’s a major change for these players because Decatur has been a running team in the past,” Holland said. “We threw it a lot where I came from, and depending on the talent, that’s what we might be doing again.

“We’ll throw the ball a lot more than they are used to seeing. That’s going to be a big challenge to them.”

Sports, Pages 9 on 08/10/2011