The No. 4 Andalusia Bulldogs opened up fall practice on Monday afternoon as they prepare for a grueling schedule in 2018.

Monday marked the official opening day of fall practice for all high schools in the state of Alabama.

“We’ve been going at it since June and July, but there are a lot of new faces this year,” Head coach Trent Taylor said. “There is a lot of faces and that’s the biggest thing. We have 96 total players. Biggest thing is, from an offensive stand point, is making sure we have the right people in the right places.”

For the first part of the week, Taylor said the Bulldogs would work on getting people in the right places.

“That’s what we will do today and tomorrow,” Taylor said of finding the right players for the right positions. “Wednesday we will be able to put shells out so it will be a little bit more, but it will be Friday before we can actually see them knock around.”

At this time, Taylor said that they are a little behind schedule from where he would like to be.

“You’ve got to understand,” Taylor said. “We didn’t really get a spring training with the success of the baseball team and with all the construction we only got five days of practice in the spring. I feel like, to be honest, we are a little bit behind because of that and because of the number of new faces. These kids worked extremely hard this summer. We only got to go to one 7-on-7, but the biggest thing I was impressed with was our conditioning. Our conditioning was outstanding. We were in great shape, both the skills and the big guys.”

The Bulldogs will open the season on the road when they take on Class 6A Saraland on Aug 24.

Andalusia’s first home game will be on Aug. 31 against the Trinity Wildcats.

The Aug. 30 game will be Senior Night for the Bulldogs and it’s scheduled to be the first game played at the newly renovated stadium.

Although the stadium won’t be completely finished, plans are in place to allow the game to be played at the stadium.