Aug. 8, 2002

Finally today we could put the pads on and play some football. It seems like it has been a while since I wore a helmet, but it has only been a few months.

One good thing about camp is we get to eat in the pit again. By September I won't be saying this is a good thing anymore, but right now it is. During the summer I get so tired of making my own food or deciding where to eat.

We had morning meetings at 7 am and then breakfast at 8. After that I got maybe the best two hours of sleep I got all summer. We had a short workout and another meeting before lunch. That may be the worst part about camp, it seems like we have a thousand meetings in only two weeks.

After a short workout I got to go back to student apartments and relax a bit. I called my dad at work, which is rare. He thought something was wrong or that I had done something wrong. I guess I was a little nervous before our first practice.

It felt good to put on all of the new Nike gear that we got this year. Guys on the team seem to think this alone will make us play better this year. Practice today was typical of a first practice of the summer. There were some mental mistakes, especially with the skill positions, but this is true of every team. The energy of the team seemed different then in past years. There is a confidence that has been lacking. I think we expect to win this year. I'm pretty sore tonight. I guess there's a difference between being in shape and being in football shape.

At the end of practice Coach Grobe told me that either tomorrow or the next day we were going to start stretching as a team and that he wanted me to lead the stretch. I liked this.