Year 1 is in the rearview mirror.
Tim Rulo and the Helias Crusaders are fully focused on the task at hand.
"It's an immense change from last year," Rulo, entering his second season as head coach of the Crusaders, said. "I think the players are more comfortable with the coaches and the coaches have a better idea of what to expect from the players.
"The coaches know, the players know, I know that we are so much better as a team this year."
Helias was 4-7 in its first year under Rulo, failing to make the state playoff bracket for the first time in nearly a decade.
But with the comfort level raised on all levels of the squad, along with a lot of hard work on the offseason, Rulo believes the Crusaders are poised to make a big rebound in his second season.
"We are prepared, we are trained, we are confident," he said. "Now it's just a matter of getting that onto the field, we will be dialed-in and we will be fine."
Helias will start the season tonight where it concluded the 2015 campaign - at Hannibal.
"I just want to see us rewarded for all of our hard work," Rulo said. "Hannibal should be a fun game, a challenging game. We're anxious, we're champing at the bit to get going."
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The Crusaders shifted from a spread to an option offense last year under Rulo. Understandably, there were growing pains as the players worked to learn the system.
It didn't help that the Crusaders (4-7), due to injuries and inexperience on the varsity level, had to start four different players at quarterback in their 11 games.
Chandler Luebbert and Curtis Campbell were among last year's starters and the two seniors competed through this preseason to claim the No. 1 quarterback spot.
"It was a tight battle," Rulo said. "They both worked very hard."
Before the preseason, Rulo asked if they wanted to give whoever was the No. 2 quarterback some snaps during games. But Luebbert and Campbell said no.
"They didn't feel like they wanted to lose a series, that's what they agreed to and so that's what we're going to do," Rulo said.
Luebbert won the position battle and will get the nod behind center tonight. But Rulo, with the four-quarterback situation last season fresh on his mind, stressed to Campbell he needed to be ready to play.
"You never know when you're number might get called," Rulo said.
The Crusaders feature a group of upperclassmen on the offensive line.
Caleb Albertson will start at left tackle, with Sam Clardy slated for the spot at left guard. Zach Scheuler will start at center, with Matthew Witt opening at right guard and Brede Stewart starting at right tackle. Four are seniors, with Witt being the lone junior. Among the backups are seniors Mason Schaefer and Sheldon Schulte.
"I think we have good offensive line depth," Rulo said.
Caleb Davis, a senior, figures to get a majority of the carries out of the backfield for the Crusaders. Jake Burnett, another senior, will provide a physical presence as Davis' backup.
Jacob Storms, a senior who was Helias' leading rusher last season, will start at one of the wings. Dylan Gaines, also a senior, will get the nod at the other spot. Two more seniors - Logan Roling and Jonas Miller - are the primary backups.
Joe Randazoo, Zach Stiles, Dalton Weaver and Nathan Bax will interchange at the receiver spots. Randazzo, Stiles and Weaver are seniors, while Bax is a junior. The four are among as many as 10 Crusaders who may see extensive time on both sides of the ball this season.
"You have to have everybody ready," Rulo said. "We want to get guys into the game and see if they can get the job done and give somebody else a chance to catch his breath, since they all play defense as well."
The Crusaders haven't added a whole lot to the playbook in the second year in the new offense.
"We just made it our goal in the offseason to concentrate on just a few things and make sure we do those very well," Rulo said. "We don't want to be a jack of all trades, we want to be good at some things.
"And I think people got a good look at some of the things we can do in the Jamboree."
The offense was productive in last Friday night's Jamboree at Wardsville, scoring four touchdowns.
"There were a lot of positives that came from that," Rulo said. "And there are still things we can improve on, which is good when you look toward the future."
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The Crusader defense struggled at the beginning of last season.
"But after Week 3, we started to pick it up and started making more plays," Rulo said. "The kids understood what we were expecting and we were playing better.
"Now we need to pick up where we left off. We are a lot more consistent. The kids know what their responsibilities are, the coaches know what their responsibilities are. We are so far ahead of where we were at this point last year."
Rulo believes the Crusaders have a top-quality unit in their six starting players in the box - Albertson and Bax at the ends, Stewart and Schaefer at tackles, and Gaines and Burnett at inside linebackers.
"There aren't a lot of teams around that can put six guys on the field of their caliber in those positions," Rulo said. "That's a lot of size, a lot of athletic ability, a lot of high-motor guys who work hard."
Scheuler and Clardy will rotate in at tackles.
"We feel good about the depth of the line," Rulo said.
Weaver and Davis will start at outside linebacker. Stiles and Randazzo will start at cornerback, while junior Jeremiah Heckman is the starting safety.
Senior Grant Bryan is the top reserve cornerback, while Storms will sub at linebacker/safety.
"I know we're going to look a lot better," Rulo said. "We're a lot stronger this year, we have the chance to be a lot more physical."
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The Crusaders always stress good play from their special teams.
Sam Heckart at kicker and Nash Harvey at punter both saw time on the varsity last season. Albertson will serve as the long and short snapper, while Campbell will be the holder on kicks.
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There are some new teams on the schedule.
In Week 2, Helias will take on Kansas City Southeast. It was the most difficult week to find a team to play the next two seasons.
"We were just trying to find a team," Rulo said. "We were contacting schools from Minnesota, Indiana, Illinois, Oklahoma and Texas. It was about 15 schools.
"But since Missouri starts football so early, we couldn't find anybody except Southeast."
Also new on the schedule is Father Tolton.
"We play them in a lot of other sports, it will be nice to see them in football as well," Rulo said.
Kirksville, a former North Central Missouri Conference opponent, is back on the schedule. Also new is DeSmet, which Helias will face in Week 9.
Remaining on the slate are Bishop Althoff (Ill.), Hickman, Battle and Rock Bridge.
"We've got a good mix of teams that run different offenses, we're going to see spreads and we're going to see teams that will run it right at us," Rulo said. "We're going to see a lot of different defenses as well. It's a schedule with a lot of good tests."
Helias will open the season with a tough test tonight at Hannibal, a potential future district foe.
"Hannibal is one of the top Class 4 programs in the state," Rulo said. "We know they are going to give us a great test, we might see them again in the playoffs and we need to see how we stack up."
Game time is 7 p.m.
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