LAKEWOOD — Cougar football is getting a little more of everything this summer.

With a new summer practice structure and a highly motivated squad, the Cougars are looking to make some changes once fall practice gets underway in August.

“We’re really excited about this year,” said Lakewood coach Dan Teeter. “We’re going to be able to make some changes and do some things we haven’t been able to do in the past.”

All of Teeters’ changes start with strength. He said he’s had a higher number of players stay in the weight room in the offseason than in any of his five years at Lakewood, resulting in an ability to expand his schemes on both sides of the ball.

“Last year we weren’t as strong up front, so we had to go totally man-to-man and load up the box on defense, and now we can try some zones and things like that,” he said.

With new schemes comes more installation time for players, which is why Teeter has started a no-pads, all-defensive session once a week to get his players up to speed by August. There is a no-contact period starting from Aug. 1 until the first day of practice, Aug. 18.

By sheer numbers, Teeter said he’s excited about the team’s enthusiasm this year, which was best shown by sending over 45 players to team camp at Central Washington University. Normally, Teeter said he takes over about half of that.

“We had our whole offensive line there and we usually bring like two or three kids and have to rotate,” he said.

The results on the field in Ellensburg were positive as well.

“We did pretty well,” Teeter said. “We faced a number of good teams, some 3A and 4A schools and we held our own.”

But the increase in player participation isn’t the only positive to come out of the summer, as the coaching staff has responded to help the Cougars. Teeter is also working with a near full support staff of assistant coaches, which is also unique to this year.

“It’s nice because we can break kids up into their positions and have extra sessions on offense before the kids go into the weight room,” he said.

Of course, getting bigger, stronger and faster doesn’t just help on defense, as Teeter said he plans on opening up his playbook to more running plays. In the past three years, the Cougars have relied heavily on quarterback Justin Lane. Now, in his senior year, Teeter said he’ll get more support.

“We had the guys at skill positions to run a passing offense, but we also needed to get stronger on the line to have a more effective run game, and this year we’ll be able to push some guys around,” he said.

Although changes are coming on both sides of the football for the Cougars, Teeter said that defense is what will need the most work.

“We’re adding a lot of new things on defense for them to pick up, and hopefully we’ll be able to get them used to it so we can hit the ground running the first day of practice,” he said. “We’re adding some new stuff on offense too, but we’re not changing as much.”