MOSES LAKE — Moses Lake High School football players got back on the field for the first time since last fall on Monday afternoon. Returning to limited practices this week, the team and coaches look to make up for some of the missed time in spring and summer.

Todd Griffith, head coach for the Chiefs, said they decided to hold off on starting up practice last week to make sure they did everything properly. With 130 players to split up into pods, he said, having a week to prepare just made things easier.

Getting back to action on Monday was the most fun he’d had in nine months, Griffith said.

“Just being there with the kids and being able to have some interaction with the kids, it’s why I got into the profession,” Griffith said. “What we’ve been doing, I think the kids are missing that part, and I think the coaches are too.”

The spring typically is the time when Griffith said he evaluates players, seeing how they’ve progressed since the previous season, and getting an idea of what the roster will look like when the season arrives in the fall.

That has shifted now to these fall practices ahead of the revised season in the spring. Griffith said he tries to look two-deep at every position, not worrying about which one will be the starter. Having three players at a position isn’t a bad problem to have either, he said.

“Who’s taken a step in the offseason? Who’s taken care of their body, been in the weight room?” Griffith said.

Players are eager to get going as well, with a lot of the upperclassmen organizing some small workouts and training on their own already, Griffith said. Right now, he said a lot of the fear lies in whether or not they will be able to have a season when the start date arrives. Once that go ahead comes, he said he expects even more kids to come out to practice.

Some parents have elected not to have their student participate in the limited practices this fall, he said. Griffith said a lot of the younger players don’t really understand the limitations that they’re under right now.

“They’re like ‘Come on coach, let’s go,’ so we’re trying to pull back the reins a little bit right now,” Griffith said.

While the older players have come into the week ready to go, mostly in the shape they need to be in, Griffith said, many of the younger players still have some work to do. The problem, he said, is that many younger players are still learning what that workload and expectations are.

Griffith said they are not going to change anything about what they’ve been doing before the season, and continue to promote the workouts coaches have been posting for players. When the season gets here, he said, he is sure the players will be eager to hit the field again and get going.

Casey McCarthy can be reached via email at cmccarthy@columbiabasinherald.com.