With less than two months to go before the start of the regular season, first year Emery High School head football coach Jon Faimalo has off-season workouts in full swing.

Aside from the traditional weight lifting programs that fill up the summer months, Emery recently competed at a seven-on-seven camp in Manti. While the team typically travels for a pads camp in late July, the seven-on-seven, no pads camp was a first for the program.

“We’ve never gone to a seven-on-seven camp and it was a good experience for our kids,” said Faimalo. “The intensity and the level of play that needed to be played was met by our kids. Defensively we are changing some things so it helped our kids get a feel for what we are trying to do.”

Faimalo took over the program in April after former head coach Jim Jones announced his resignation. In the past the team has done a little work with weights in the spring, but Faimalo wanted put even more emphasis on the weight program.

This year’s coaching staff is nearly identical to what it has been in past years, making the transition to a new head coach fairly easy for the returning players. Faimalo believes that level of consistency will be key for a successful 2016 campaign, but he is still putting a lot of emphasis on the team’s seniors.

“I’m putting a lot of accountability on our seniors, making them step forward and take a little bit of leadership,” Faimalo said. “Not that this hasn’t been happening in the past, but the seniors are the kids that are going to lead us into battle and they need to take charge.”

Those incoming seniors have endured their fair share of bumps and bruises during the past two seasons, but showed tremendous growth in 2015. Missing the playoffs in 2014 with a final record of 1-8, the Spartans returned to postseason play last year as they finished with a 4-6 mark. Last year’s improvement is a big reason for the optimism that surrounds the team this year.

“We have a lot of kids with varsity experience and we have depth” said Faimalo. “A lot of these kids have two or three years of varsity experience, and that should work in our favor. If they buckle down and do what they need to we should have some success.”

As of Monday, July 4, a summer moratorium is in full effect for all sports in all five UHSAA classifications. Coming out of the time off the Spartans are expected to head to Millard on July 18-23. Official practices for the regular season will begin on August 1, just 18 days before the opener on the road against Summit Academy.