And that certainly was fine with Wildcats coach Bryce Monsen. A pair of solid workouts during which Temple’s players appeared to be focused and in good physical condition left him pleased with what he saw.

“It was a great first day,” Monsen said after his group of seniors, juniors and sophomores numbering “close to 200 kids” completed the second of two 2½-hour practices in T-shirts, shorts and helmets at 2:30 p.m.

“There was nothing that wasn’t really good. The kids had great retention from the spring and they worked hard. And it could have been hotter.”

It wasn’t exactly cool, as the heat and humidity had everybody in attendance working up a sweat. But some cloud cover, some wind and temperatures that stayed below triple digits made the practices relatively comfortable by August standards.

Temple has the same schemes on offense (Wing-T) and defense (59), almost its entire coaching staff and a large group of players returning from its 2007 team that went 6-0 in District 13-5A and finished 7-4.

Therefore, this edition of preseason practice is being geared around the Wildcats continuing to build on the momentum generated by last fall’s stellar season, productive offseason workouts and spring drills.

“It’s just getting back to work, one day at a time,” said Monsen, entering his fourth season as head coach. “That’s all we know in Temple, Texas. The Wildcats are getting back to work.”

Monsen said his players’ high level of fitness allowed Temple to get right into practicing its offense (including increased passing), defense and kicking game instead of spending a lot of time on conditioning.

“We’re getting down the road in a hurry,” he said. “We’ve got a lot of kids back and I think our kids have all improved. I like our speed and I like our work ethic.”

The Wildcats will practice from 8-10:30 a.m. and 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. each day through Friday, their first day of full-pads, full-contact work. After its team photo session Saturday morning, Temple will have either an intrasquad scrimmage or a single practice before it continues two-a-days on Monday.

The Wildcats’ first of two scrimmages is scheduled for Aug. 22 at home against Cedar Park Vista Ridge. Temple will scrimmage at Pflugerville Connally on Aug. 28 before its regular-season opener at Cedar Park on Sept. 5. The Wildcats’ home opener is Sept. 12 against Leander at Wildcat Stadium.