Spring Practice -- session 1 -- photo gallery
By Thomas Corhern, TTU Sports Information
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – Thursday morning certainly didn't look like spring.
Frost coated the turf inside Tucker Stadium, and the sweatshirts under the jerseys as well as the clouds of exhaled air and steam coming off the players' heads painted the rest of the picture.
It may have been a little chilly, but one thing was certain – for Tennessee Tech, football was back.
The team completed its first practice session on Thursday, the start of a 15-session schedule, slated to run through April 17. Tech continues its practices this afternoon in Tucker Stadium at 4 p.m., then wraps up the first week on Saturday morning at 10:30 a.m. The site of Saturday's session is still to be determined, weather permitting.
All practices are open to the public.
"It went great," said Tech head coach Dewayne Alexander. "For a spring practice, it really couldn't have gone any better. The weather gave us a little bit of a rough start with a little frost on the field, but it cleared off great. The guys were excited to get started, the coaches were excited and we had a really, really good first day."
But as the morning wore on Thursday, the Golden Eagles started to look like they were in midseason form.
"They had a lot of positive energy," Alexander said. "The coaches were detailed and organized. The guys were paying attention. You could tell they were engaged in what was going on. There was a lot of teaching obviously with the first day of spring – just trying to get lined up and footwork. I thought the spirit was good, the tempo was good. The energy was just outstanding."
As spring practices begin, there's nothing usually too intensive as they're just trying to get the guys going again, but there was still something in their eyes that Alexander noted.
"I saw a lot of guys out there competing," he said. "I told them we don't have to line up against somebody to compete. You can compete in your drill, in a handoff drill, in a backpedal drill. You can compete in all of those situations and make sure, on every rep, you're getting out there and competing and getting better in everything you do.
"I saw a lot of guys being coachable and listening to what their coaches were asking them to do. Some of it was different than what they've done before and that happens every time there's a coaching transition. These guys never said that wasn't how they've done it before. They just said to tell them what to do and they'll do it."
The practice session ended as Tech football alum – and NCAA Theodore Roosevelt Award winner – Barry Wilmore visited and talked to the team, joking around with teammates Alexander and (linebackers coach) Bruce Hatfield.
"That just capped the day off," Alexander said. "With it already being the first day of spring practice, I was so excited. I told the guys I almost wanted to sleep in my car last night, turn the lights on at midnight to get started. Coach Hatfield and I were both here at 4:30 this morning and just couldn't wait to get out here on the field. We all texted each other and said we were pumped and ready to go.
"I just happened to look over at the end of practice, and I said, 'That looks like Barry Wilmore.' And it was. He just happened to be here for board meetings and in from out of town and the team got the chance to congratulate him for the award he won back in January. That was very special. That just capped off a really good day."
Alexander continued, "Now what we need to do is string some really good days together. We had a good one today, now we need to watch the tape, watch the film and evaluate. We'll come back out here Friday afternoon and take the next step as we continue to get better."
Photos by Thomas Corhern, TTU Sports Information
