They Said It

Given that we were 600 miles west when practice kicked off yesterday, what I can offer today is a transcript I made from the social media video Dartmouth pulled together after the first day of practice. I'll be out at practice tomorrow. In the meantime . . . 

SAMMY McCORKLE after the first practice:

I thought it was good energy. The guys came out ready to roll. I tell you what, we got out here on the field and guys were here early. You could just feel the energy. They were excited to get going. And I really thought the guys, especially our older group of guys, did a good job of setting the tempo for the rest of the guys.

We have a lot of new guys in positions that we’re expecting to step up, and it was good to see those guys come out here today and compete. 

I just think we've got  a lot of guys who since spring practice have done a phenomenal job in the offseason training, getting themselves physically ready. And you could just see that today, just the way the guys were. Especially at the line of scrimmage on both sides.

The guys were being aggressive, coming at each other, and the conditioning across the board was really good. I thought our tempo was good, the whole practice. Guys weren't dragging around, and to me, that's huge.

There are going to be mistakes here and there, but I think we've got to really do a good job of making sure we're disciplined, we know what we're doing, be assignment sound. We saw that today. Sometimes there were points where guys weren’t in the right spot and it's going to hurt you. But I think across the board, that's what we're looking for: Guys that we trust to put out there that are going to be assignment sound and it allows them to play fast and play confident. 

CO-CAPTAIN DELBY LEMIEUX:

I was really glad to see that we picked up right where we left off in spring ball. Guys were in the mindset, this isn't practice one, this is practice 13. Guys were ready. Guys were flying around. Sure there was a little rust to knock off, but guys are excited to be out here. And now let's win the rest of the day and get ready for tomorrow.

I think we've got a lot of younger guys who are ready to step into those bigger roles and push those older guys who have been in them. But at the same time, those veteran guys, those seniors and juniors who have played, are paying it forward and trying to use their skills and pass them along to the younger guys. 

It's easy to come out on Day One. Flying around and having juice. It's a lot harder on Day Two after you've been through it for a day. It's even harder on Day Three. Having the discipline to stay at that same level every single day, that's what's going to be important for us right now.