The 2015 football season is still a couple of months away, but that hasn’t stopped the local gridiron from seeing plenty of action this summer.

Incoming head coach Willie Dudley is already hard at work with a fresh flock of Falcons, heading up a summer school football program in the mornings and working with his varsity athletes in the afternoons.

With longtime head coach Jim Fairfield retiring at the end of the 2014-15 school year, this year’s summer school program turned out to be a perfect way for Dudley to get to know some of his athletes in a more relaxed setting before donning pads and running headlong into the season.

In the mornings, he runs field workouts with incoming freshmen from 8 to 9:30 a.m. After a short break, the athletes head into the weight room to continue their training.

Before summer school wraps up, Dudley said he’d like to see even more interested freshmen come out and get a look at the program in the mornings.

In preparation for the 2015 season, he’d also like to hear from anyone interested in offering their coaching skills as an assistant in the coming months.

Anyone interested in becoming a part of the high school football program is invited to contact Dudley at wdudleyfamily@gmail.com.

As for Dudley himself, the Falcons’ new leader is most recently coming off a stint coaching at Arizona Christian University.

“Before that I was coaching at Horizon High School, Scottsdale Christian Academy, Marcos de Niza High School and Marana High School,” he said.

Early on in the June 10 practice, Dudley gave his players a piece of encouragement.

“I don’t care how many mistakes you make,” he told his class of young athletes.

“What I care about is how you finish.”

Dudley said that’s a mentality his players can expect out of the coming season.

“Our philosophy is that we do what we are supposed to do,” he continued.

“What that means is, if we’re supposed to be busting our tail, then that’s what we do. If we’re supposed to show up for weightlifting, then that’s what we do. If we’re supposed to be doing off-season training, then that’s what we do.

“That applies to everything. If we’re in the classroom, then we pay attention to the teacher and we get good grades.”

Dudley said that philosophy dovetails nicely with his desire to see everyone finish strong.

“In anything you do, you make mistakes,” he added.

“Whether you’re in the classroom, on the football field or wherever, it’s natural to make mistakes. The question isn’t ‘Will you make them?’ but ‘How will you respond when you do?’ The answer is, you finish what you start and you finish strong.”

Only working with his eighth grade athletes a couple of weeks now, Dudley said he’s getting along well with the team.

“They’re a great group of guys,” he said.

“The players who aren’t with us now are going to already be behind once the season gets here. These kids have their footwork going already, they’re running routes and they’re doing great with strength training already.”

Dudley said that it seemed like a natural continuation to keep the summer school program rolling now that he’s taken over, and it’s given him a great opportunity to get an early jump on teaching players what is expected offensively, defensively, and in the areas of strength and skill training.

“When the season arrives, hopefully this helps us hit the ground running,” he added.

“We’re working the players well. Varsity is going to ASU passing league tonight, we’re going to Central on Saturday and Surprise in two weeks. They’ll have three weeks off to train on their own, then we’ll report for the season on July 20.

“That’s when we’ll run our camp, then we move into pre-season training and, in no time at all, we’ll open up against Northwest Christian.”

Dudley said the team still has a long way to go at this point, but he’s excited for the journey.

“The kids have been great,” he said.

“We’ve just got to get them stronger, get them moving and get them to understand what we’re going to be doing this season.”