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BLOOMINGTON – With two tires lifted above his head, senior running back Ricky Reyes ran laps after practice on Tuesday.

Reyes, with a number of his teammates, was paying the price for missing a practice. The punishment, also known as “black haloes”, is not being looked at as a negative for the Bobcats, and isn’t above even a four-year varsity player. Instead, it’s a commitment builder and something new head coach Lonnie Goad thinks will bring the players together.

“You have to have accountability to yourself and to your team,” Goad said. “It’s more important than athletic ability. We’re really trying to get that through to the kids. Accountability helps you use your talent and helps the entire team.”

Reyes is expected to be the starting running back this season and knows what it’s like to go through transitions. During his time in Bloomington, Reyes has had to deal with new coaches coming in, but also new teammates. The senior has been friends with the past two Bloomington quarterbacks, but watched as they transferred to other schools.

“It’s what they decided and wanted to do,” Reyes said of seeing his friends leave Bloomington. “The toughest thing is just not having them here after the work we did together. We got our timing down and now it’s a different person. That makes it tough to adjust to.”

While it’s a tough situation for the players in Bloomington, Goad believes the lesson they are learning is important.

“A football program is part of the educational process,” Goad said. “These guys are learning a lot out here that they couldn’t in a math or English class. They’ve been forced to learn that people move on and they have to keep moving.

“They’ve been through a number of new coaches and quarterbacks, but this senior class isn’t going to be here next year either. We have to do our best today and this year. We’ll worry about next year, next year. We have to stay day-to-day and work as hard as we can every day we’re out here.”

The Bobcats hit the field for the first time against another team on Saturday at 6 p.m. against Danbury in a scrimmage in Bloomington.

The team is still working to find its quarterback for this season, but it knows better than most, that one player isn’t going to make or break the team.

“It’s all about the next guy coming in and stepping up,” senior Frank Kassner said. “It doesn’t matter if we have to use freshmen, we’ll have someone in there. It’s been hard like every season getting used to coming out here early in the morning, but we’re doing good.”