As part of Loudounextra.com's 2008 football preview, we ask four questions of a key member from each of the Loudoun County high school squads. Today, it's Freedom senior running back/linebacker T.J. Mizell.

How do you stay motivated as a team after the tough season you had last year?

We’ve got a lot of seniors and a lot of senior leadership out here. As juniors last year, we saw how the seniors went out with a winless record and we’re definitely not going to let that happen to us. I think we can get to at least .500 which would be a great season for us.

You can tell the difference between last year’s practices and this year’s. Everyone is much more enthusiastic and motivated. You can tell we want it this year.

You were one of several players to go both ways last season. With a bigger team this year, how will that impact the number of people playing on both sides of the ball?

Last year we had five or six guys going both ways going every game and this year that number should be much lower. That means people won’t be as tired late in the game and we’ll have guys coming fresh at almost every position which should help us in the third and fourth quarters.

The defense really struggled to stop people last season. How will the new 3-4 scheme play to the strengths of your defense?

Our defense is made up of speed guys this year, so we’re going to be a lot faster and we’ll really be getting after it. Everyone is bulked up and going after the ball and guys are excited to hit people. Enthusiasm has a lot to do with that and the desire to win is really there this year.

What's the biggest key to taking the next step and putting up wins this fall?

“Practice hard, practice hard, practice hard. We’ve got to want it. We’ve got to listen to the coaches and just do what we need to do and just get after it.”