Rico!

Today was our first practice with our new Strength & Conditioning Coach, Rico Curtis, working the guys out for the first hour of practice. AWESOME addition to our program!

What a difference it will make for us. Rico is such an easy going guy, and the team really responded to him and his training program. The other thing I noticed is the difference in attitude while the guys worked out. When one of their "regular" coaches is running conditioning, whether it is me or one of the Assistant Coaches, the players mindset while conditioning is almost like we are punishing them. Well, with Rico, they seemed to approach it like this guys is here to make us stronger/faster; basically they seemed to think, "I need to listen to this guy to get better."

Afterward we had a great practice. After we got through our fundamental work, we shifted to a new way of doing build-ups, followed by Man-Up vs. Man-Down. I have stepped back in to help with Man-Up. Our Asst. Offensive Coach has done a good job, and we are keeping two of his plays as our "bread & butter." But, with our personnel the way it is, we can't run progression on Man-Up like we were; we have to run 4-5 plays, getting certain players, to certain spots.

Our Man-Down is playing awesome this year. Statistically, we are the best I have ever had. But, the season is young. However, if we keep this kill percentage up, it will allow us to play very aggressive, with little concern about penalties hurting us.

The other great thing about practice tonight, is that we figured out that we get an extra 20 minutes of practice each night. This is HUGE for us, it is almost like getting an entire other practice. We used this extra time tonight to close with 6-on-6. It looks like we are improving..................improving enough I hope to get on the winning side of things this weekend.

All thanks and glory to God, our Creator, and his Son, the Christ