Fall Camp : Through Scrimmage 1

     The first full week of fall camp has passed.  Aches and pains is the name of the game when getting back into the grind of football.  Just getting used to your helmet gets your head sore.  Then the pads come and your arms start to get bruised and shoulders start to hurt from hitting.  The headaches start to come from the first few tackles... like T Bull says you know you have one if you can't shake your head without it hurting!  After the first week, my body feels it.  But it is far from unusual, will pass with time, and is all part of the process of getting back into the swing of things.

     Practice with pads the first couple of days is not much different than without.  We still tag off for the most part and keep the offense off the ground.  The biggest change is we have tackling drills.  Coach Lovett is big on tackling and we spend a lot of drill work on it.  I think that is key because if we miss a tackle, it is a touchdown or at least a big play.  Film study is another key element to the camp grind.  I watch every play I am in and write down every mistake I make on film.  This way I will be able to look back and see my most common mistakes.  I try and fight the blur of camp by focusing on one aspect of my game to improve on for each day.  I have also been working on jugs (the things that shoot out footballs really fast) every day after practice to keep my hands familiar with the football.

     The scrimmage went well for the most part.  We were flying around to the ball and making plays.  We also gave up too many big plays.  For the first time, I graded out with a 100... but that doesn't mean I couldn't improve on my play.  The biggest issue I had was running through a tackle which is difficult when you play at a "thud" tempo, which means full speed but no tackling.  If a running back is full steam ahead this is a difficult thing to do!  Tackling or tagging off can be easy to do, but in between... you end up getting knocked back when those running backs lower their head.  Kaufman said before the scrimmage that "Effort is the main focus and the ball is the issue."  I think we achieved that.  Still a long way to go, but I am seeing improvement with each and every day.  One step closer...

-Student of the Game

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