When the Milano Eagles play Rosebud-Lott on Friday, they will have a different look from last year’s team coached by Kyle Edwards with all-district guard Christian Thurman.
They are now led by new coach Lee Essman, who comes from Lexington after taking the Lady Eagles to the UIL Class 3A girls basketball playoffs last season.
“Practices have been a lot of what we want to run with them since I’m new,” Essman said. “But with the football guys being here three days now we can start to speed up the teaching process.
“We are learning on the go.”
With Thurman now at Brookhaven College in Dallas, their offense will by guided by sophomore point guard Layne Telg with help from juniors Cordell Spears and Drew Demeritt.
Eagle quarterbacks Noah Benavides and Ethan Knight are also expected to hit the court after they heal from football injuries.
Essman said they will also rely on freshmen this season like Ethan Gordan and Jayce Todd.
“We will be young at some positions with a couple of freshman,” he said. “We may pull up some guys from junior varsity but that is down the road.
“We will have a mixture of old and new but overall, we are inexperienced right now.”
The Eagles faced the Cougars on Tuesday after press time and were supposed to play Lexington on Friday but the game was canceled due to LHS girls’ volleyball making the state tournament.
They play next on Tuesday evening in Rockdale.
Junior varsity begins at 5 p.m., with the varsity starting at 6:30.
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