First Day of Camp Brings A Fresh Feel

FORT COLLINS -- Thursday felt good. Right. The way the start of a football season should be approached.

Summer strength and conditioning is valuable, to be sure, but after a couple of months, all anybody on the team really wants to do is get on the field and play the game. Colorado State football coach Steve Addazio said it was awesome, a sentiment the players echoed.

He also said it was a bit sloppy at times – it is the first day. And he quipped he was going to his office to watch the tape, which may make him want to vomit. But hey, they were on the field.

"Football is fun in general. I just love playing the game," defensive end Scott Patchan said. "There's so much anticipation and build up before a season, everyone has their opinions, everyone has something to say, but when you put the helmet on it all goes away."

It wasn't new to any of them, save for the freshmen. But the day carried a fresh air. This wasn't like last year, when a pandemic cloud hung over them all the time. The best of plans were made with fingers crossed, as each morning could bring about an issue.

This felt different. The pandemic is not over and Addazio said the team – which he said is 99 percent vaccinated – is still remaining diligent about health and safety protocols. But the team did not head into the day with the same sort of angst of awaiting test results and wondering how many players were available for the session.

"It feels like a normal year. I think the biggest thing too is we get to play football," punter Ryan Stonehouse said. "We're not worried about, 'hey, are we going to get shut down next week?' We're just worried about playing, and the optimization is there. We can see the season is coming up. You can feel it in the locker room, feel it with guys on the team. There's definitely a lot more energy than there was last year. There was a little bit of a lull where guys didn't know if they were going to play or what was going to happen. Now you see guys ready to go."

Yet there is another level to the good vibes heading into the first day of training camp. Addazio and his players feel they are a tighter, more bonded group this time around. A coaching change will lead any program down the path, and as Stonehouse referenced, there is a bit of push and pull taking place. It's natural. As are player defections, because sometimes a common ground can't be found. Not fault, no blame, just reality.

Throw in a pandemic which cuts in half a staff's first spring camp in half, the regular season to just four games played and hampering team bonding activities, the target becomes so much smaller to hit.

Thursday, the team hit the field tied together.

"I think the players know the expectation, they're working toward the expectation. I think it's important to them, I think they care and it's my job as the head coach and our job as coaches … As I tell the team all the time, leadership is setting the standard and hold everybody accountable to that standard," Addazio said. "By nature -- coaches, players -- we have to be pushed. We've got to get to that point where we push ourselves and hold that standard. That's a training, a physical, mental training, and that's what training camp is for."

If it is able to run like clockwork. During the pandemic, it was not. Not everybody was able to punch the clock day after day, and some groups missed ample time. That's the part Patchan isn't sure the general population understands.

An experienced team relies on the necessity of day after day, and a young team with a new staff absolutely requires the repetition. The Rams never had the luxury, and Patchan expects it to make a difference this camp.

"It absolutely does. And you factor in guys getting contact traced last year, any chance we had of building momentum, or thinking we had a guy in the right spot, then we had to have a young guy step into that spot because we had to play with what we had due to the contact tracing and guys getting COVID, it was a mess last year, and I'm thankful it's all behind us," he said. "It is nice. It's very nice. I'm just appreciative. You end up missing days and then it destroys any continuity you have with building what you're trying to achieve. I think it's huge to be able to come out here every day and just continue to build and not have to worry about that."

Build they must. Addazio stressed as much after the first practice. As far as the team feels it has come, there is a way to go. It's why the day was a bit sloppy at times. The Rams will need to show more fight, more grit, to deliver on the objective of being able to able to execute in the fourth quarter when tired as in the first quarter when fresh.

If anything, last year should have shown them all how to overcome hardships, because they will happen through a game and definitely a season.

"We talked about having to handle the adversity of fatigue, when you transition from strength and conditioning to football," Addazio said. "No matter how much you try to prep that, that first day is a tough day. I think we needed to handle it better than we did today. We've got plenty to work on here as we move forward, which is the good news. But we're excited to be back at it."

It's a start. And it felt like it should.

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