Aaron Feis' sister, Johanna Feis, watches Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School's first day of spring practice Monday. (Photo via palmbeachpost.com)

The Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School football team in Parkland, Florida, conducted its first spring practice Monday. It was the Eagles’ first practice since assistant coach Aaron Feis was gunned down in the Feb. 14 shooting at the school, when he used his body as a shield to protect students in the line of fire.

At the end of the practice, the 64-player squad huddled up and yelled, “Feis Up!” in honor of its late coach.

It’s a takeoff on the phrase “man up,” and Eagles head coach Willis May said it's the team’s motto this season.

“We can’t feel sorry for ourselves,” May told the Palm Beach Post. “He wouldn’t want us to feel sorry for ourselves. He would expect us to be men and go out and grow from it and be stronger and not whine and cry about it. Just Feis Up. He would like that.”

Beyond that, and the banners adjacent to the football field supporting the team, it was a typical first day of spring practice for the Eagles in a lot of ways. May chastised players who showed up late or didn’t wear the required team gear.

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“To be honest with you, it sounds terrible, but we’ve tried to love on these guys and baby everybody as much as we can, but football’s not a game where you can always do that,” May said. “We’ve let them kind of slip and let them come and go, whatever, because we know they’re hurting. So there’s a fine line and I’ve got to play that fine line, but at the same time, I’ve got to make them accountable to one another and be football players.”

“Feis Up” isn’t the only way the team is honoring its former coach. Offensive linemen who are deemed to have given the best effort in practice will wear Feis’ No. 73 from his playing days, and the school will retire the number at season’s end. There’s already a scholarship and T-shirts in his name, and they hope to install a turf field and name it after Feis in the future.

This fall, an ESPN crew will follow the Eagles throughout the season. They’ll open in Atlanta against a team from Canada, and play in a kickoff classic at Daytona Beach as well.

In the meantime, the players who experienced so much terror, fear and grief earlier this year, are happy to be back on the field.

“It means the world to all of us,” said guard Greg Gaynor, whom Feis coached on the offensive line. “The energy and tempo today was great, so we’re all glad to be out here. It lifts our spirits.”