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Jameel Sewell participated in Monday’s practice. |
The months of offseason waiting ended on Monday for the Virginia football team when it opened practice for the 2007 season. Naturally, the players were excited to be back in action as they started the process of preparing for another year. But was the first day a productive one?
Some of the elder statesmen on the team thought the first day went well. In fact, the team is already ahead of last year’s pace thanks to the number of returnees on the roster. UVa has 10 defensive starters back in the fold and eight starters returning on offense. Throw in the fact that nearly all of the players on the depth chart were part of the repetitions last season; that means the team is able to jump into drills a little bit faster.
“The last two years, we’d start off and do more insulation [with positions] and now we just kind of jump right into things,” linebacker Jon Copper said. “We have a lot of older guys and even the back-ups are guys that have been around the program and know the stuff so we don’t have to take as long to go over things and get started.”
Of course, there are always mistakes on Day 1 – the question is whether they hampered the flow of practice.
“I think we came out ready to go. The first day of practice, there’s always going to be a few mistakes out there but overall I thought it was a decent day,” running back Cedric Peerman said.
Peerman certainly has quite a few eyes on him during this training camp. He currently tops the depth chart at running back with two redshirt freshmen – Keith Payne and Raynard Horne – pushing him for snaps. Payne did not practice on Monday as he remains suspended from the team for academic reasons. Virginia coach Al Groh declined to comment after practice; you can check Sabre partner WCAV TV’s highlights and interviews here.
Peerman, meanwhile, said being No. 1 on the chart doesn’t change his approach. He’s going to come to practice ready to work and ready to improve.
“I just try to go into every camp with the goal of being prepared to go in the game. I’m approaching this camp the same,” Peerman said. “I just try to come out here and show the coaches each and every day how I’ve progressed from the day before.”
While players like Peerman and Copper have the fall routine under control, Monday’s practice was the first official action for many players. Defensive end Chris Long said the older players helped prepare the newcomers for practice before it ever started.
“We actually had a conversation [Sunday] with some of the younger guys. You know, be a professional out here,” Long said. “We’re not paid to play football, but you are a professional. You’re a college athlete. Be on time. Be a class act out here. Move on and off the practice field. That’s stuff they should know by the first day of camp if we’re doing our jobs right.”
Married Man
Junior Jon Copper started his first 2007 practice in a new role. No, he isn’t moving from linebacker. Copper was married this offseason. He is thought to be the first player married while still playing during Al Groh’s tenure.
“I’ve got some alumni that I’ve talked to that were married, but that was like 20 years ago – apparently there was a whole group of them,” Copper said. “So yeah it is a little different. Most of the guys go home and they’re living with somebody that’s across the ball from them or right next to them. It’s good.”
What About the O-Line?
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Branden Albert said he dropped down to 312 pounds during the offseason. |
The offseason is often filled with reports of unofficial 7 on 7 action and how certain players fair in those workouts. Of course, those drills eliminate one of the key components in real 11 on 11 action – the offensive line. So what exactly do the linemen do in the summer while all the skill players play 7 on 7?
Branden Albert says they’re out there working too.
“When they did 7 on 7, we did offensive line stuff. We worked on our technique and did little offensive linemen drills to help us out for the season,” Albert said. “We do specific drills that help us out like with our run blocking or pass blocking, nothing to serious like specific plays or anything like that.”
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