Football is back. Despite the hot and humid days of July and August, head coach Jeff Lee and his 70-plus football players began practice at midnight Monday.

The excitement was in the air as the Tigers football coaches ran the players through conditioning and drills early Monday morning.

"It is always an exciting time of year for the players and coaches," Lee said. "Our guys have worked really hard to get to this point."

The Tigers will hold camp at the high school this week. The team will practice three times a day through today and scrimmage on Thursday and Saturday morning.

Picture day is Friday.

Dawson is trying to rebound from a 3-7 record last season.

The team must replace 11 seniors from last year's squad: Ethan Brown, Zach Johnson, Cody McGinnis, Bruce Rayner, Levi Wilson, Eian Perry, Preston Lewis, Mason Cox, Andy Crawford, Matthew Jerezewski and Matt Satterfield.

"These guys will be hard to replace, but we played so many young guys last season who gained valuable experience, I think we will be OK," Lee said.

The Aug. 18 preseason scrimmage with Greater Atlanta Christian has been moved, due to construction at Tiger Stadium, to Aug. 11 at a site to be announced next week.