DEMOPOLIS — The Tigers donned full pads for the first time this year Thursday during a practice session that pleased their second year head coach.

“We were pretty sharp on both sides of the ball. It went well,” DHS head coach Tom Causey said. “I was pleased with it for the first day for sure.”

Causey said one of the biggest challenges the team currently faces is its lack of depth.

“We’re having to play more kids both ways this year,” Causey said. “We’ve got to get (our scout team) more reps. We’ve got two or three freshman linemen getting reps over there. We’re at a point in our program where we ought to know what we’re doing.”

Causey said the offensive group again began the day strong before fading slightly down the stretch.

“We’ve got to improve overall execution. When we’ve got a No. 2 guy in there, he’s got to execute at a high level,” Causey said. “He can’t be a No. 2 when he’s in there with them. He’s got to be a No. 1.”

Causey said he was particularly impressed with the intensity exhibited by the defensive line.

“The effort of those first four (defensive linemen) was great all day long. I thought the intensity of our defense was good,” Causey said of the Demopolis front four, which consists of Carl Johnson, Tremaine Sanders, Marteze Jackson and Trey Jones. “They do that every day. It’s a good group of players. We need to make sure we’ve got backups at each of those spots.”