One sure sign high school football season is drawing close is the release of the annual Murphy Fair statewide preview books.
Besides individual team previews, among the features in the 32nd edition of Fair’s prep football preview publication for Tennessee are region predictions and preseason polls for all classifications, as well as preseason all-state selections – all of which are voted on by coaches.
The Chattanooga area is well represented with 23 players who earned preseason all-state recognition and six teams ranked in the top 10 in their respective classifications.
Teams will shift gears this week with five days of heat acclimation beginning Monday to prepare for next week, when they are scheduled to begin practicing in full pads. Whether those padded practices can begin next week, however, is in question as the state remains under Gov. Bill Lee’s extended state of emergency order that would prevent contact during practice.
If the governor does not exempt TSSAA teams from his order, then contact drills and the start of the regular season would be pushed back one month. The TSSAA’s Board of Control would have to vote on when contact drills and the season can begin.