The heat and humidity was on full blast for the first three days of the heat acclimatization period, which ran from Aug. 10 through Aug. 12, but that didn't melt the enthusiasm for Catonsville High quarterback Jake Getzendanner.Getzendanner enters the season as the starting quarterback, after rotating with 2016 graduate Danny Terzi for the 7-3 Comets last season."It's just a fun time," Getzendanner said. "I've been waiting a long time for this. My brother was the starting quarterback here, so I'm just excited. I'm well-prepared for this."Catonsville senior quarterback Jake Getzendanner takes a break from the hot weather during practice during the recent heat wave.Getzendanner's older brother Joey was the 2014 Catonsville Times Athlete of the Year and Jake, who also plays basketball and baseball, shared the same award with Eric Sheppard in 2016.But Getzendanner's athleticism doesn't make it any easier to perform on turf on days like Aug 11, when the temperature soared to 96 degrees and the heat index was 106."With the hot helmet on, it's tiring, you go home and you've got to take a nap and then get up and go right back at it," Getzendanner said. "We're lucky we don't have the full pads on because that would be exhausting."One of the advantages to starting early is getting to know teammates better."It's only the second day of practice and we already have most of our offense in," Getzendanner said. "We get to build chemistry quicker."The extra three days of practice is designed for players to get adjusted to the heat while wearing a helmet, T-shirt and shorts.Veteran players are accustomed to wearing helmets in the heat, but younger players need to adjust.Staying hydrated was on the mind of Catonsville senior Tony Smith and his teammates at practice on Aug. 11."We always have a good number of kids that have never played the sport, so you've got 10 to 20 kids that are getting used to what it feels like to wear a helmet when its 80 degrees outside," Catonsville football coach Rich Hambor said. "It's not a normal thing."Hambor spent several minutes off the field after practice in the air-conditioned school repairing and fixing helmets and making them more comfortable for several new players.Those added practice days aid the rookies the most."We need to catch them up to the other kids," said Mike Sye, coordinator of athletics for Baltimore County Public Schools. "That was really what the whole heat acclimatization is. It's trying to get them used to the heat, a couple of days where they are gradually getting into the process. Once you put the equipment on it holds about 10 to 20 degrees of heat and it really takes a toll on the kids."Catonsville opens the regular season on Sept. 3 at Patapsco, but the Comets have their first scrimmage Aug. 25 at Long Reach High.The 2016 start date of Aug. 10 for the first practice was the earliest start in history, but Hambor heard few complaints from parents or kids who had to cut vacations short."We didn't get many questions," Hambor said. "I think it's pretty much established how it goes. One kid came to me and said, 'I'm going to miss Thursday and Friday.' Then he came to me and said, 'I'm going to be there.'"The Comets had 90 kids trying out for varsity and JV spots, so missing any practices can hurt a player's chances of making the team.Catonsville's first three practices started at 8 a.m. and they ran for two to three hours."When practice is over we get all that paperwork and equipment repair done and the next day they are ready to go and if there are issues that pop up in the morning we take care of them in the late morning or early afternoon," said Hambor, who started coaching as an assistant at Catonsville in 1997 and is entering his 13th season as head coach.Hambor's energy and enthusiasm for the early practices is just high as the humidity."At least for me, you kind of feel like you just go on a little bit of adrenaline," he said. "I think our bodies as coaches are acclimated to the heat after a lifetime of being out there.But the coach knows he's put in a good day's work when he hits the sack."I feel it as soon as I fall asleep," Hambor said. "I'm just out. I'm not restless. I'm not tossing and turning, I'm out."