There’s still a few months before the start of football seasons for Lawrence High and Free State, but both schools have have been going full-speed ahead at team camps over the past week.


The two schools spent two days at the Kansas University team camp last week, along with about 15 other teams around the area. On Thursday and Tuesday, they participated in Baker University’s padded team camp, which they hosted on their own fields. Along with the two city schools, Shawnee Mission East, SM South, St. Thomas Aquinas and Leavenworth were at the camp on Tuesday. Here’s some of the things that caught my eye at Tuesday’s camp, starting with the Firebirds:


Senior quarterback Bryce Torneden looks sharp with a year of experience. In the video below, you can see his strong cut on the 2nd play and he made some good decisions on his throws. He tossed for 1,064 yards last year and ran for another 1,277, combining for 25 touchdowns. He looks further along than he did during the summer last year. His only negative moment was when he had to sit briefly with a quad injury when he made a play on defense, flying in for a stop from safety.


“It’s definitely helped having a season under (me),” Torneden said. “We have a lot of returners except for that line. We just have to build them up.”


“It’s mostly coaching,” Torneden added of the line. “Just getting more experience. We’ve got Tanner (Liba) coming back. I think we’ll be fine.”


The Firebirds have a lot of potential in the backfield. It’s great to see senior Sam Skwarlo back on the field after he suffered a season-ending injury (Lisfranc in left foot) in the season-opener last year. Skwarlo looked like he was running at full speed on Tuesday at both running back and linebacker. Add junior Zion Bowlin to the mix and Free State has two runners with a great mix of speed and strength in the backfield.


The biggest question for the Firebirds is the offensive line. They lost four starters from last year, including first-team All-Sunflower League left tackle Scott Frantz. But senior Tanner Liba, who started at right tackle last year, is confident of the progress they’ve made during the team camps. Liba noted how well Garrett Swisher and Chase Houk have looked in the past week.


“Pretty much as line, we just need to see what we need to work on,” said Liba when asked how team camps help linemen. “How much harder we need to get off the ball. Just stuff like that.


“So far, I think we’re looking pretty good. I think that we can build up to where we were last year, especially with our first week of camp and we still have a whole summer ahead of us.”


It’s also interesting to see how the Firebirds are rebuilding the defensive line without first-team All-league selection Shane Hofer. Senior Jalen Galloway returns at end, but they’ve added Darian Lewis to the mix on the line. Both Galloway and Lewis are athletic enough to make up for any size disadvantage.


The one group that caught some of the coaches’ ire was linebackers. They had a few missed assignments, which is to be expected for this stage of the season. But they will be held to a high standard this season, returning so many players from last year, including Skwarlo, Bowlin, seniors Drew Tochtrop and Paul Bittenger and junior Jay Dineen.



*
Now for thoughts on Lawrence High:


After strong seasons in track, running backs JD Woods and Trey Moore look as elusive as ever. The self-proclaimed duo “Smash and dash” will have pretty high expectations this season. Woods returns after leading the Sunflower League in rushing last year with 1,667 yards, adding 20 touchdowns. They looked strong in read-options, making good cuts and showing their big-play capabilities on Tuesday.


The defense has a ton of returning starters, but it will be led by its linemen. Seniors Amani Bledsoe and Trey Georgie look bigger and stronger after an offseason in the weight room, drawing rave reviews from their teammates.


“Oh man, it’s awesome,'” said senior Peter Afful, who has been getting some reps on the defensive line, along with playing some H-back on offense. “When I’m looking at the D-line, I’m just like, ‘Wow.’ I’m happy I get to play behind these big guys, you know. It’s really nice.”


How helpful are the team camps for the LHS defensive line?


“I think practicing against ourselves, we know the plays pretty much,” Georgie said. “And some people might go easy because we’re a team. But here, we don’t know the kids and we’re just here to play football.”


Speaking of the defense, seniors Price Morgan and Tanner Green shined at linebacker on Tuesday. As they’ve shown over the last two seasons, they have a knack for finding the football and using their speed to get to wherever they need to on the field. Of course, there was no tackling on Tuesday, but they were frequently in the right place to make plays.


Senior quarterback Alan Clothier showed off his arm a little bit on Tuesday and made some strong throws. He wasn’t asked to make a ton of throws last year, but it looks like he’s been working on his throws in the offseason. Adding his arm to their rushing attack will only make the Lions that much more explosive.


The Lions have high expectations this season, returning 17 starters from last year and are just pumped for the season to get started.


“Honestly, I was talking to my teammate Ivan Hollins before this,” Afful said, “and he asked me, ‘P, how ready are you for the season?’ I told him, ‘Words can’t even describe it already.’ I’m very excited for this season and I know big things are coming our way.”


Georgie added: “We’re hungry for September 4th to come around. We want to get that first game under our belt. We want to see where the season will take us.”
*
As always, feel free to comment, email me, or find me on Twitter @nightengalejr.