Burroughs football making strides in summer with new players, coaches
There is plenty that is new with the Burroughs High football program as the team toils through summer practices.
With 37 seniors lost to graduation — including a host of impact players — from a team that went 10-2, captured a Pacific League title and advanced to the CIF Southern Section Southeast Division quarterfinals, the Indians have plenty of new faces competing for spots during the offseason.
Also navigating his way through his first summer as head coach is Burroughs graduate Mike Reily, who served as an assistant under Keith Knoop for 14 years. Knoop stepped down following the 2015 season after guiding the program for 19 years. Reily has assembled a group of assistant coaches with a wealth of experience on the NFL and collegiate levels, as well as decades at the high school level.
“That’s a lot of players to lose from one team,” said Reily, a 1994 graduate who played at UNLV, “and a lot of those player that we lost were starters and a lot of them had been playing together since they were in Burbank Vikings and flag football, so they had a lot of chemistry and cammaraderie.
“So, being young, we are using the summer to do a lot of evaluation. We have a lot of kids from our JV team last year who we are looking to step up and play some major roles for us. So we are evaluating them and trying to find the spots that they will fit in best for us and the best way they can serve the team. There is definitely a learning curve and it takes a while for those players to learn.”
Some of the Indians coaches are new to the program, while others are returning. Sticking around to serve in an assistant capacity is Knoop. Returning is running backs coach Earl Hollingshed and new to the staff is former player Eddie Lopez, who will coach the secondary.
Another new addition to the staff is former Burroughs standout lineman Eben Britton, who played at the University of Arizona and for six seasons in the NFL for the Jacksonville Jaguars and Chicago Bears.
“We have retained some coaches from when Keith stepped aside, including Keith,” Reily said. “But we do have a few new additions, including Earl, who coached for us and taught at Burroughs for a number of years before leaving. He was responsible for helping develop some of the best running backs in program history, guys like Thomas Kyle, Joe Wiggan, Dominique Barnes, Zander Anding. He coached them and helped make them successful. He will be working with Chance Bell, our returning running back.
“It’s really great to have Eben back at the school. The kids really respond well to him and they are excited to be able to learn from him. Anytime you have a six-year NFL veteran on your staff, the kids are going to learn from that. We kind of joke that I could tell these kids to do something and its ‘yeah, yeah, yeah.’ But Eben tells them to do something and they’ll run through a brick wall. He just has the credibility and his word is legit to these kids.”
The Indians began summer practice in June and will finish up July 28. On a typical day, the the varsity players workout alongside the junior varsity athletes. The players lift weights, do some plyometrics and stretching before taking part in drills before breaking up into groups on the field.
During the spring and summer, Burroughs also competed in the Crescenta Valley passing tournament as well as a tournament at Santa Fe High. The team also hosted schools for scrimmages on Wednesdays.
“Since I’ve been around the program and been a part of the football landscape here for so long, there’s really not a whole lot of changes that I’m doing this summer,” Reily said. “Just tweaking a few little things here and there and I guess putting my personal stamp on things.”
Among the group of new players is a core trio of retiring Indians standouts in Bell, a senior, and senior linemen Tommy Howe and Jesse Chamberlain. The three have helped provide guidance for some of the younger players during the summer, while working hard to improve their skills.
“Our main goal during the summer is team unity,” said Howe, and all-league offensive lineman. “With a young team, we are just trying to build the best relationships that we can and just bond so we can be that unit once the season comes around and we put the pads on.”
Said Chamberlain, a first-team offensive lineman: “The three of us seniors have really brought it on ourselves to help the younger players and show them the way. We all need to do our parts to get better and be ready for the season.”
Coming off a junior campaign in which he was named the Pacific League Player of the Year, along with All-CIF and All-Area accolades, Bell is using summer to hone his skills.
“Whatever you do in practice, it translates into what you do in games, so putting in the work now during summer is going to pay off during the season,” Bell said. “We all have the same mindset and we all are working toward the same goals, we just need to put in the work to make that happen.”
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Jeff Tully, jeff.tully@latimes.com
Twitter: @jefftsports