There was one nice part to Nansemond-Suffolk’s first official football practice under new head coach Lew Johnston.

The Saints had new, brightly-painted helmets in the traditional design of Michigan, or more exactly with the Saints’ shades of blue and gold, then perhaps with a nod to Johnston‘s highly-respected wing T offense, the University of Delaware.

Nothing else was very pleasant about the opening practice with the usual August heat and humidity and lots of conditioning being put in.

Johnston comes to the Saints after coaching at Western Branch from 1972-2006, with Johnston winning five Southeastern District titles and going 163-65-3 in 22 seasons as the head coach. He stepped away from coaching at the varsity level and was teaching and coaching football at Jolliff Middle School in Chesapeake for five years before the NSA position opened up.

“The core values at NSA are the same as the core values I’ve always stood for with my coaching philosophy,” Johnston said.

Johnston replaces Kevin Allen, who coached the Saints for two seasons. NSA won the Virginia Independent Schools, Div. II state championship in 2009 but fell to a 4-6 record last fall.

Looking ahead to this season’s opening Friday night on Sept. 2, and well beyond, Johnston had the whole Saint football program out from the first day of the preseason. Junior JV players were going full speed and getting reps running plays alongside the varsity squad.

Johnston’s been holding workouts, combining physical practice and chalkboard sessions, since January with his new team.

The Saints traveled to a team camp in Amherst County earlier this summer. The camp was specifically for wing T offenses. Johnston is a longtime expert, to the level that he’s an author, video producer and coach to other coaches, on the offensive style but he felt the more instructors the Saints hear from, the better they’ll do with the crash course.

“We’re going to be young and not very big, but we have two big pluses. We have smarts and speed and we’ll take advantage of those things,” Johnston said earlier in the summer.

Thursday’s practice was two hours on the field, a short break in the shade, then two more hours in the evening.

The Saints will face Windsor in a scrimmage on Aug. 19. They’ll travel to North Carolina’s Outer Banks and play First Flight High School for the first time on Sept. 2.