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First day of football practice for Orange County high school teams

July 27, 2026

Mission Viejo High School players run plays during practice in Mission Viejo on Monday, July 27, 2026. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)

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Mission Viejo High School players run plays during practice in Mission Viejo on Monday, July 27, 2026. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)

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MISSION VIEJO — High school football in Orange County is a year-round operation now.

Spring football is serious football. So is summer football.

Monday was the first official day of fall football practice for CIF Southern Section teams that will play their season openers in Week 0 (Aug. 20-22).

Week 0 was not widely embraced 20 years ago. Most teams play Week 0 games now – there are 39 games that will be played in Orange County in Week 0.

The first three days of fall practice comprise the “acclimatization period.” Helmets are the only football equipment allowed during the period. Full contact in pads can begin for Week 0 teams on Saturday.

For teams that start their seasons in Week 1 (Aug. 27-29), it’s the same schedule but just one week later.

Teams can practice once a day for a maximum of two hours. Many teams start these practices early to try to avoid — as much as possible — the heat and humidity.

Mission Viejo’s football team started its first practice for the 2026 season Monday at 8:30 a.m. at its on-campus stadium.

Kyle Gerrish was the first Mission Viejo player on the field Monday. Acknowledged by the Mission Viejo coaching staff as a senior leader, Gerrish was 10 minutes early for the drills.

Gerrish saw Monday as a crucial day for the team.

Mission Viejo senior Kyle Gerrish is ready for the start of the 2026 football season. Gerrish is a defensive lineman and long snapper for the Diablos, who started practice Monday, July 27, 2026. (Photo by Steve Fryer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

“Spring ball and summer ball are all about technique and learning the basics,” he said. “Today, it really turns on. The backups kind of fall behind a bit more.

“The people who did not commit themselves during the offseason and the people who did commit to it all spring and summer, that will show out. The bridge between those groups will grow longer.”

Mission Viejo coach Chad Johnson said Monday’s practice in many ways was just a pick-up-where-we-left-off session after a one-week break.

“These first three days are going to be a lot of review,” he said. “We’re going to reinstall something every day that we already did in the spring.”

Varsity and lower level units broke up into groups, with the varsity linemen in one corner, freshman linebackers on another side of the field and quarterbacks, running backs and receivers working around midfield and in between the hashmarks.

The Diablos looked sharp, although a couple of receivers were missing because of minor injuries incurred during the summer 7-on-7 passing tournaments, including the Mission Viejo-hosted South County Classic of July 18.

Johnson likes his team.

“During 7-on-7 our secondary proved it’s going to be a formidable group again,” Johnson said. “Defensive line is a question mark. We lost Kane Nolte (All-Alpha League first team) and JD Hill (All-Orange County first team) there, so that question will be answered once we get into pads.”

Mission Viejo has five offensive linemen back from last year’s team that won the Alpha League championship and finished 9-2 overall.

“Are they as good as advertised?” Johnson asked. “We’ll see. Can they protect the young quarterback?”

That young quarterback is sophomore Brett Burnor, set to replace last year’ Orange County offensive player of the year Luke Fahey, who graduated and now is at Ohio State. Burnor threw one pass last season – a 17-yard touchdown pass. Senior quarterback Nash McElree had transferred to Mission Viejo from Texas, but decided to remain in Texas.

Mission Viejo High School offensive line coach Sam Baker talks with players during practice in Mission Viejo on Monday, July 27, 2026. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Coaching the Mission Viejo offensive linemen is Sam Baker, who joined the Diablos staff a few months ago. Baker for the past few seasons coached linemen at Tustin, his alma mater, following a long career as an offensive lineman at USC and in the NFL.

Johnson said this might be the best coaching staff he has had in his nine season as the Diablos’ head coach.

Mission Viejo opens the season Aug. 21 with a home game against Temecula’s Chaparral, which was 7-5 last season, including a 36-21 loss to Mission Viejo at Chaparral.

Monday’s practice was an important step on that bridge that started when the 2025 season ended and the ‘26 season begins.

First day of football practice for Orange County high school teams Orange County Register

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First day of football practice for Orange County high school teams

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