Spring football is a time to transition and bond for high school teams

Spring football starts Monday for many high schools in the state with an emphasis on transition.

Some schools are transitioning into new divisions. Some are transitioning with new head coaches, new offensive and defensive coordinators.

Some are looking at new personnel and see which players have the burning passion in late April and May to lead a team in August and September.

"You see it in the spring," Chandler Hamilton coach Steve Belles said. "You hope the bonding occurs between the players. As coaches, the players can't be forced. You can guide them. They have to be the ones."

Actually, bonding begins a short time after football season ends, when kids trickle back into the weight room, hit the stadium bleachers, start to build toward the next season.

Then, in the spring, it starts to flourish.

There are no pads, but they learn the offense, defense, special teams; they get to let the coaches know who they are; they get out a little aggressiveness; they ratchet it up a few notches, knowing college coaches come through to see which prospects emerge.

"Any time a coach is watching, it kicks it up a couple of notches," said Belles, whose perennial state final team will begin work Monday afternoon. "We just want to see guys compete and give a great effort. We get an idea where kids are.

"We won't know until we get the pads on, how far they've come. But self-confidence comes a long way. The more confident they are in spring ball, they end up winning jobs on the field. A lot of it is the inner-demons kids have to go through on, 'How am I going to beat these guys out?' ''

Each school has three weeks to spread out spring football. Some go shorter.

Some, like Peoria Centennial, will be on the field three days and in the weight room for two days each week.

Some, such as defending Division I champion Chandler and Scottsdale Desert Mountain, will begin their spring football season on May 4.

Chandler and Scottsdale Saguaro are among some of the choice schools with high-profile players that will attract coaches from major conferences.

Desert Mountain's team will be run this spring by former Cardinals quarterback Kurt Warner, whose son Kade, is a top sophomore H-back. Warner is running the team, while new coach Mike Morrissey finishes out the school year at Cedar Rapids (Iowa) Prairie High.

Warner will be installing a new offense.

A new offense will be installed at Scottsdale Chaparral, which starts up Monday, after Rudy Carpenter left after one season. He now helps out at Scottsdale Coronado.

Scottsdale Notre Dame Prep, moving down from Division II to III, will get going with offensive coordinator Mike Brown leading it, while head coach Mark Nolan finished up his obligations at Regis Jesuit in Aurora, Colo.

Chandler Seton Catholic will be making a transition with former Phoenix Brophy Prep defensive coordinator Gary Galante taking over for Rex Bowser, who retired after leading the Sentinels to a 12-1 season.

Anthem Boulder Creek may not have a lot of college coaches coming through without high-profile recruits, but coach Brandon Willard is anticipating a big jump in participation numbers after his team went 8-3 in his first season.

"With our success last year, our numbers have boomed," Willard said. "We were lucky to have 40 varsity kids on our roster each week. This year we are expecting over 70 players on varsity and we will be a two-platoon team. We anticipate having over 200 kids in our program compared to 130 last year."

Phoenix Union district coaches are hoping to find increased numbers with all 10 schools playing in Division III. Laveen Cesar Chavez, part of the Phoenix district, could benefit the most from the move down two levels after winning its last four games in D.I last season and led by one of the most sought-after defensive ends, Hamilcar Rashed Jr.

Phoenix Shadow Mountain, in D.III, also is hoping to see an uptick in numbers, after Brock Farrel has had a full season leading the program. Farrel recently made former Shadow Mountain star wide receiver Shaun McDonald his offensive coordinator. McDonald played at Arizona State and in the NFL.

Shadow Mountain has some dynamic players: sophomore quarterback Darion Spottsville, junior wide receiver Jake Welscheimer, junior linebacker Noah Palmenberg, junior cornerback Destin Nasr and junior defensive end/outside linebacker Jacob Nelson, to name a few.

Mesa Red Mountain will welcome new offensive line coach Deuce Lutui, a former NFL offensive lineman, who teamed up with Warner on the Cardinals' 2008 team that reached the Super Bowl.

Red Mountain will have video review meetings twice a week, while practicing three days a week. It finishes spring football with a scrimmage on May 16.

Most teams end with intra-squad games.