Photos from Wednesday's practice

By Thomas Corhern, TTU Sports Information

COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – Tennessee Tech first-year head football coach Marcus Satterfield made one thing perfectly clear on Wednesday morning as the Golden Eagles took to the Tucker Stadium turf to open the first practice of the team's fall camp – this wasn't going to be just any other first day.

Needless to say, the expectations were high.

It wasn't about just getting back into the swing of things.

It was about being the best they possibly could be.

The coach was looking for the best the players could provide even in the camp's first official session.

"Everything counts," he said.

As the session wore on, the intensity rose and the Golden Eagles were giving it their all, an effort that pleased Satterfield.

All of the hard work in the spring and summer was finally coming to fruition.

"I think that's the advantage of our administration really stepping up and providing our football team the opportunity for summer school," Satterfield said. "With NCAA rules, we're able to coach them for two hours a week in the summer without a football. That allows you to get ahead so when you start the first day of practice, the kids have a clue and an understanding of what we expect from them out on the field, how their demeanor should be, how they should learn the plays and things of that nature.

"I think our administration deserves a lot of credit for stepping up this year and really trying to make this a big-time football program and getting our kids ready this summer."

Satterfield didn't have a chance to review the film early on, but that didn't mean there weren't some things that impressed the coach.

"The cool thing is that even though we're a very young football team," Satterfield said, "we had 37 players who had never stepped on a college football field today and they all moved around really well. It wasn't too big for a lot of them. We had some of the transfers and the older kids coming back and they just kept going, kept building on last spring. That was just really good to see. The continuity of both young and old was great and it helped keep practice fresh. I thought our coaches did a great job of keeping the energy up. We were working on the details and I think we did awesome."

Two players had a great morning in practice as Maleek Hall on defense and Dorian Carter on offense had strong efforts.

"Maleek had an unbelievable day," Satterfield said. "There was only one pass completed on him all day. He was shutting down some good receivers, which was great to see. He's worked really hard in the offseason and gotten his weight back down. Without watching the film, he had a really great day."

The first day of camp continues through tonight's walkthrough at Tucker Stadium, starting at 8 p.m., and there's still a lot to accomplish as the day wears on.

"The only thing I really have issue with was the way we were finishing plays," Satterfield said. "I think a lot of that was with the young kids because they've never watched the way they play and don't quite understand what we're asking for just yet and it's hard for them to understand what I'm yelling at them for. Once they watch the tape this afternoon and have a walkthrough, I think the ending of the plays will be a lot cleaner and a lot closer to where it needs to be for us to win championships – running to the football, taking proper angles, catching the ball and finishing 40 yards down the field.

"We've talked about it and they did it, but they haven't gone and seen how it looks the way they were doing it, which isn't the right way. That's what we're going to focus on for (Thursday)."

With a lot of new faces, it might be difficult to keep them all straight.

Not for Satterfield, though.

"Amazingly enough, I know the names of everyone on the field," he said. "All 95 kids. Coming into the spring, I didn't know all of them. It's good to know who they are, where they come from. This is really cool to see – 37 guys who have never, ever played college football before are out there and, man, are they good-looking. There are some really long, fast, athletic, good-looking kids. We just have to get them ready and I can't wait to watch them grow up."

Photo by Thomas Corhern, TTU Sports Information