Published: August 05, 2008 12:10 am            

Bulldogs report to camp, ready for work

NEW WAVERLY — After a long summer, the New Waverly football team hit the field early Monday morning for their first day of practice.

Despite temperatures hovering near 100 degrees and players dressing out in only T-shirts, shorts and helmets, the Bulldogs were excited to finally get back to playing football again.

“It’s fun to be back,” junior running back Tyren Watts said. “We’ve been looking forward to today because we have big goals to accomplish. We didn’t know it was going to be this hot, but it was a good day. We picked up right where we left off from last year.

“The heat can only help us. That’s what two-a-days are for, to help us get ready. We know we’re going to end up playing in the sun anyway. We’ll be playing six weeks in 100-degree weather, so we’re going to be in shape.”

Since the Dogs couldn’t put on pads because of a UIL rule preventing full contact until after the fourth practice day, they worked on conditioning and broke into groups by position.

“Today, we were mainly working on a review,” New Waverly head coach Ken Craig said. “We reviewed our running plays on offense that we felt worked the best last year. We worked on those by position with the offensive line, with receivers with what they do downfield, the backs with little things like steps and quarterbacks on how they step out, reverse, carry out fakes and all those little things. Defensively, we lined up into formations.

“Then after that, we all came together and put it together as a team on both sides of the ball. But it was a good first day. We had some pleasant surprises on how kids showed up. Numbers were good for the first day. I was pleased. Linemen looked OK. Most of them are in great shape and ready to go except for two or three new kids that have moved in, we aren’t too bad. Alignment’s a little off here and there, but we’re in good shape. That’s where we wanted to be.”

Even though it was just the first day of practice, many of the Bulldogs kept active and worked hard throughout the summer. More than half of the Dogs attended a strength and speed camp conducted by defensive coordinator Paul Donelson.

“We had about 30 to 40 show up — and some of those were 100 percent attendance — to the speed and strength camp,” Craig said. “It was probably 90 percent of the skill guys and 60 percent of the linemen were here. That’s pretty good. A pretty good nucleus of guys to step in and get ready to go.”

Since the Dogs aren’t in pads just yet, Craig said he is using the time during the first four workouts to get the Dogs acclimated to the heat and make sure they are well-conditioned.

“You want to get yourself into condition,” Craig said. “That’s your No. 1 priority. You want to get in good shape with your helmet on out here in the heat and get used to that part of it. You want to get your body and muscles running and working like they need to and working toward that first day of contact.

“As coaches, we want to see where we are. We want to get their minds fresh with what they’re doing and get their bodies ready to go. For those that haven’t been in the heat this summer, we want to get their bodies ready to play in the heat. After four days, we want them in pretty good physical shape and be ready to go.

“We really feel good about where we are right now and we’re really pleased about the attitude with the ones that have been here. They’re the ones that are expecting good things to happen. We’re real excited. It’s going to be fun.”

The Bulldogs have only a short period of time before they start having scrimmages and the regular season starts.

“It’s going to start happening in a hurry,” Craig said. “A week from Saturday, we get our first little test. We got Bryan Rudder coming over here in a scrimmage. We’re going to see what we have at that point.”

“Everybody has been working real hard over the summer,” receiver Sir. Horace Saulsberry said. “We’re ready to go. We’re ready for that first game and we’re ready to win.”

        

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