After three months with no football, NFL draft weekend gets the sport back on the mind, and it's hard not to start thinking ahead to the end of summer.

When the calendar gets to August, it means high school football season is near. It's one of the busiest times of year for the Sports Department because the season preview is a three-day extravaganza of prep pigskin. But there is a lot of preparation to be done before then.

I was more worried than usual about the upcoming season because state championship weekend for spring sports this year is June 7-8. It would mean one less week of summer and one less week to get ready for football.

But the calendar gave a reprieve in 2013. Week 1 of football season kicks off Aug. 30 (with a few games Aug. 29).

The number of the days between the end of the 2013 spring season and the beginning the 2013 fall campaign is probably similar to past summers. But it seems like an additional month compared with the Aug. 24 kickoff in 2012. I'll take it.

The News-Herald Senior Bowl is June 21, and two-a-days begin a little more than six weeks later. So it appears to be a long way away. I know better.

That means it's time to get going on the 2013 schedules and updating team histories and statistics. Late August will be here before we know it.

Howard Primer