Free State head football coach Bob Lisher watches as freshman Kendon Kula and other linemen burst through a chute during the first day of camp on Tuesday, May 30, 2017 at Free State High School.

Among the many objectives for Free State High football coach Bob Lisher this week, as his Firebirds step up their offseason preparation with morning camp sessions, identifying each player’s optimal position on the field seems more pivotal than ever for the only head coach FSHS has ever known.

“We’re trying to get it to the point in our program where we’re not having any two-way starters,” Lisher said Tuesday, following the completion of the first day of camp.

Identifying the best quarterbacks, receivers, running backs and offensive linemen is standard practice for any coaching veteran, but now Lisher and his staff aim to do that while not also asking any of those players to start at defensive back, linebacker or defensive line. In past seasons, it was common to see Free State’s most talented players shine on offense and defense as starters. But Lisher said he plans to put an end to that in 2017.

More and more high school programs have trended this direction of late, and Lisher said Free State is doing the same in an attempt to make it easier on the players, keeping them fresher, physically, and more productive, while also having their health and concussion protocol in mind.

Free State defensive back Gage Foster covers a receiver during the first day of camp on Tuesday, May 30, 2017 at Free State High School.

“It’s safest for the kids when they’re not out there every snap. There’s a big difference between 120 snaps and 60 snaps,” Lisher said, before qualifying that statement. “Maybe. Maybe not, because it just takes one play. But you can reduce the chances by not giving them so many snaps and that’s what we’re trying to get to.”

Even at a thriving Class 6A program such as FSHS, completely eliminating two-way players isn’t realistic. Lisher said some starters on either side of the ball will be labeled as “depth” players, and come in as substitutes for the other unit. He said he’d like to limit those “depth” contributors to eight or nine in total.

This overhaul in the program’s approach means Lisher and his assistants have to scrutinize the skills of every player more than ever. Take the quarterbacks, for example. Lisher, now back to calling plays for the Firebirds’ offense after some staff changes in the offseason, is giving repetitions to three different players who experienced in-game snaps at the varsity level or lower this past fall: senior Gage Foster, junior Jordan Preston and sophomore Malik Berry. Foster started at outside linebacker, Preston didn’t play defensively, and Berry played safety as a freshman.

Several Free State players work to carry a chute from one end of the field to the other for lineman drills during the first day of camp on Tuesday, May 30, 2017 at Free State High School.

“We’re going to see where everything fits the best, because we don’t want two-way starters,” Lisher said. “I mean, we don’t want any two-way starters at all.”

For players such as Jax Dineen, who considers himself both a running back and linebacker, a move away from playing offense and defense will be an adjustment.

“I’ve just done them both my whole life. We’ll see how it goes,” said Dineen, a junior. “I’m going to try to do both as much as I can, but it’s also up to (Lisher).

“It’s nice, though, to get a break. It keeps you conditioned and feeling good to get back on the field. Sometimes when you come from play to play you get tired. It’s hard on the body.”

As both players and coaches get used to the new model through snaps at camp, Lisher said other goals will be accomplished, too.

The Free State Firebirds take off from the line of scrimmage during the first day of camp on Tuesday, May 30, 2017 at Free State High School.

“We just want to get everybody familiar with what we’re doing, which most of them are,” the coach said. “Get them back in the frame of football before we go to KU on Monday and Tuesday for that padded camp against other teams. This week is just kind of a refresher course to get them ready for that.”

While the Firebirds only get to play in T-shirts and shorts, without pads or contact, at camp this week, sophomore lineman Turner Corcoran said they’re looking forward to inching closer to the coming fall season, after FSHS finished 9-3 in 2016, reaching the 6A semifinals for the third straight year.

“We’re really excited to put on the helmets and pads and get the plays going again,” Corcoran said, “and getting to know the new kids and getting to work together as a team.”