Like a lot of seniors, Jess Mruzik of Farmington Hills Mercy will enjoy a lot of perks that come with the final year of high school.

The first such perk will be that she will get to miss almost three weeks from late August to mid-September.

The 50 or so students chanting “Schmitt! Schmitt! Schmitt!” during the earliest minutes of Monday morning know him mostly as a high school math teacher.

Which makes sense – the oldest probably had just turned 3 when Schmitt was locking down his local legend status as St. Johns’ history-making quarterback.

An assortment of game rules, preseason policy and postseason tournament changes will greet more than 100,000 high school student-athletes as 2019-20 Fall practices begin next week for nine sports for which the MHSAA sponsors postseason tournaments.

While this summer may have seemed to arrive late in many parts of Michigan, the warm and sunny weather over these last few weeks has provided another reminder that student-athletes must prepare for training in hot weather that traditionally accompanies the beginning of August as MHSAA member schools prepare to begin fall sports practices this month.