By Kevin Lonnquist
NTX Varsity Sports Columnist
The calendar is the calendar. It wasn’t that long ago this space reviewed Aledo, Boyd and Paradise winning state baseball championships.
That was in early June to close out the 2025-26 UIL athletics calendar. Less than two months later, we are into the early days of 2026-27.
August always signals the beginning. This past Saturday, the volleyball season started everything. The season begins this coming Monday, Aug. 10. Cross country will have meets later this month. Team tennis is starting as well.
Football for the smaller classifications and for those Class 6A and 5A programs, which did not go through spring ball, opened this past Monday. Those programs that did have spring football open on Monday.
You probably learned through previous stories from other outlets about the UIL’s newly adopted Wet Bulb Globe Temperature (WBGT). This is considered the most accurate measuring tool to determine where and how all athletic events should be monitored during the unmerciful and punishing August heat.
It measures humidity, wind speed, sunlight and the real temperature as a gauge to determine when it’s time to stop and when it’s time to continue. High school athletic trainers are usually the ones in charge of this.
Tragically, we’ve lost young football players because of heat stroke. The adoption of this new method was brought on by the sorrowful passing of a Lancaster player around this time in 2025.
Over the years, most programs have made the adjustments. They will start workouts around 7:00 a.m. give or take. Two-a-days are a thing of the past. Water breaks are administered liberally.
Perhaps there are those old schoolers who still believe that back in their day they used salt tablets and “toughed it out” was a way to get through it. More power to them. But times change.
As we have become a more and more of an air-conditioned society – and I can tell you that while I love living in Texas, I’m not fired up about standing in the heat for any longer than I need to at any time in the summer – there’s just a smarter way to deal with these conditions.
Coaches want to make sure their players continue to give great effort and are sharp as they possibly can be by the end of practice. Players don’t need to be lying flat on their backs or using IVs to restore what they exerted during practice.
Scrimmages will be starting soon. Then the season begins on Aug. 27. It’s all about doing the right thing. The more informed we are, the more lives we can protect.
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The major story in the summer was the UIL’s ruling in early July that North Crowley defensive back John Meredith III would be ineligible for the upcoming 2026 season.
The decision reaffirmed the District 11-6A Executive Committee’s June ruling that Meredith couldn’t play because he moved from Euless Trinity to North Crowley for athletic purposes. District 11-6A is home to Duncanville.
This was a pretty big deal because Meredith was rated as the No. 2 recruit in the country by some major recruiting services. He had been verbally committed to Texas. This senior season was going to be quite the journey. North Crowley is hoping to make another run toward a Class 6A championship.
In theory, Meredith could have returned to Trinity. That wasn’t going to happen. A story in Fort Worth Star-Telegram on July 31 reported that Trinity head coach Aaron Lineweaver consulted with UIL assistant athletic director AJ Martinez about how to fill out forms and was instructed to select a category noting this move was for athletic purposes.
Meredith claimed on twitter he had his vindication. There are those who believe there was an effort to prevent him playing at North Crowley despite documentation proving he was moving to Southern Tarrant County for honorable reasons.
Mainly, Meredith’s mother Casity Parks remarried and moved to a residence closer to North Crowley. The Star-Telegram story also reported Parks is a peace officer, meaning that she can choose where Meredith attends school.
Abruptly, Meredith’s high school career has ended. Meredith has reclassified as a 2026 and is expected to enroll at Texas later this month.
This story has an impact for Aledo’s season opener at North Crowley on Aug. 28. There are going to be several storylines going into that one.
First, it will be the Bearcats first game as a Class 6A program. Next, the loss of Meredith changes some of the dynamics of that Panther defense, especially the secondary.
There’s no question new North Crowley head coach DeMarcus Harris, promoted from defensive coordinator to take over for Ray Gates who left to take a position at North Texas, prepared his team this past offseason and spring as if they would not have Meredith.
I’m sure Aledo head coach Robby Jones and his offensive staff kept a side eye on this story to see what kind of opposition they would be facing.
Meredith wasn’t the only one. Flower Mount Marcus QB and LSU commit Garrett Nussmeier’s transfer to Denton Ryan was also denied for the same reason. Nussmeier learned his fate from the UIL on the same day. He was originally ruled ineligible by the District 3-5A committee before he also appealed to the UIL.
Throughout the decades, notable stories like this have happened. Why these two received so much attention is because they are high-profile players. National recruits. And well, they make news.
An unknown junior moving from high school A to high school B just isn’t going to generate interest. That’s the way this works.
But the cautionary tale for the schools, who are receiving these decorated players, is to make sure every i is dotted and every t is crossed before the case goes to the DEC.
Triple checking wouldn’t hurt either.