Football Camps Forge On

So, as the second week of pre-season practice began around the area:

-Clemson found itself mired in Girdle Gate (better than being hip deep in Panty Gate, I suppose) only to get its reprieve from the NCAA Monday afternoon. I found it coincidental that about a year ago Tommy Bowden made some much-played remarks about one of his players wearing tight pants that it was actually tight-fitting pants, as described this time by head coach Dabo Swinney, that did the Tigers in as they exposed the pads being worn. In years past, Clemson wore baggy shorts with pads underneath, according to the coach, who noted that he was unaware of the rule he’d violated until it was pointed out to him. He also referred the media to various other website in which players had a similar appearance at their opening practices.

-In Columbia, Steve Spurrier has already removed his favorite weapon from his holster----the depth chart-----to minimize the status of one QB (Reid McCollum) and boost the confidence of another Aramis Hilllary. However, one should keep in mind that a year ago about now Spurrier (stunningly to some) named Tommy Beecher his starter. Thus, today’s outcast could be tomorrow’s cool kid in Steve’s world. Essentially, regardless of the school, most college players need to keep their head on a swivel at this time of the year.

Spurrier did make a point of how impressed he is with his true freshmen and I think that will portend to many a fresh face getting a significant opportunity to play. As he has noted the importance to show improvement in the season ahead best he try to move forward with promising young players who will be around for a few years.

-Here in the middle of August the other night I saw our news folks do a story about how hot it is and they asked me for video of high school football players at practice. I mention this because at this time of the year I (and other old people like myself in our mid-40s or beyond) recall my high school football days and how our water break came when practice was done, not during actual breaks in practice. Such a thing was unheard of back then. At a given high school practice these days you’ll also see a well-trained medical staff of two or three standing at the ready to tend to anyone who goes down with injury or illness (several more are on hand at college practices). When I played our medical staff was a somewhat overweight student who was given the title of “trainer” and carried a grey tool box in which the most practical item for injury was First-Aid tape.

-At Panthers camp, it was a nice moment Monday morning when team owner Jerry Richardson visited with his players, just six months removed from heart transplant surgery. Even in his thinned state of recovery he still casts a noble presence. As he rode in a cart at the Wofford practice fields you really can be struck when you realize he’s been on that property at various points over a 50-year span from college player to NFL team owner. You wonder if he had any idea back then that he’d be in the position he’s in now, with the players he has now.