Early to rise ...

It's time to rise, show no mercy and hope a lot of kids come out.

Monday is the first day New Mexico teams can start two-a-day football practices. Between Curry and Roosevelt counties, there are two new coaches, two defending champions and plenty of storylines that begin as early as 6 a.m. Monday.

In Clovis, the Wildcats enter their first season under Cal Fullerton. The 1997 Clovis graduate was named new coach in February, three months after Eric Roanhaus resigned to close a 39-season run as the top CHS coach.

The Wildcats will go 7-8:30 a.m. and 9:45-11:15 a.m. daily with weight sessions to follow Tuesday and Thursday. For all teams, practices are helmets only Monday and Tuesday, helmets and shoulder pads Wednesday and Thursday and full pads Friday.

Fullerton's theme for the first year is, "The Rise," and he hopes big numbers are going to be a catalyst. The Wildcats may have 200 players from ninth grade up, and are likely going to have to borrow helmets from Eastern New Mexico University for the first few days while a shipment is en route.

"It's to rise back where we used to be," Fullerton said. "We were a powerhouse, made it deep in the playoffs every year."

Offseason workouts in previous years included three long practices. Fullerton said summer workouts this time were shorter practices Monday through Thursday.

"We had a really good summer," Fullerton said. "We checked out equipment Thursday and Friday night, and they're ready to go."

The Wildcats scrimmage 6 p.m. Aug. 18 at Roswell and open the season with two-straight home dates - Aug. 25 against Hobbs and Sept. 1 against Carlsbad.

Portales has some shoes to fill, but plenty of optimism going into their practices. The Rams have a players meeting for high schoolers 11 p.m. Sunday leading up to their 12:01 a.m. practice.

The defending 4A state champions have to replace around 75 percent of their offense from last season, but the program is well-established going into Jamie Ramirez' sixth season. He's 38-20 overall with the Rams, but 23-2 in the last two seasons with 15 of those wins by 35 or more points and three more by 20-plus.

The Ram summer theme, at least in their summer camps, was, "No Huddle, No Mercy," but Ramirez there's no particular inspiration for it.

"We've done that all along," Ramirez said. "We just put it on a T-shirt (this year). It's always been our focus to play as fast as we can on offense, stop the run on defense and be solid on special teams."

Following the midnight practice, Tuesday through Friday two-a-days should be 6-10:30 a.m.

The Rams are expecting between 75 and 90 players, and Ramirez wants a business-as-usual approach unchanged by 2016's success.

"In terms of philosophy and the way we coach them, it doesn't change things. But because we are the defending champions, I do think other people view us differently. We'll have a lot of people looking to give us a loss."

• Melrose: The three-time defending eight-man champions will go 6:30-10 a.m. on the field and then hit the weight room each day, coach Dickie Roybal said.

Players without gear are instructed to be at the field at 6 a.m. Monday. Roybal is half-optimistic, half-hopeful a few kids show up then.

The Buffaloes only had two seniors on last year's title squad, but lost linebacker Kris Lopez to a family move and receiver Jared Lee to cross country.

So far, there are 11 slated to practice.

"Specialty positions, we're OK," Roybal said. "But with the numbers, we've just got to stay healthy and get through it."

• Texico: The Wolverines, in their first season under Pat Crowley, begin practices 7 a.m.-noon throughout the week with a short break in the middle.

• Dora: The Coyotes plan to go 4-9 p.m. Monday through Thursday, then 8 a.m.-noon on Friday.

• Floyd: Coach Steve Foust said the team will begin its workouts Aug. 14, as too many kids have work schedules to put together meaningful six-man practices.

Texas teams don't begin two-a-day practices until Aug. 7, while their regular season begins in September.