Rams Carry Hope Into First Day of Camp

FORT COLLINS, Colo. – The first day comes with built-in excitement.

Coaches don't have to call for energy the first day of fall camp because it's there. It's a release after a long offseason and two months of intense work in the weight room and on the practice fields when nobody was watching. What the Colorado State football team accomplished in those days was all preparation for the main event.

The chance to play football again. They won't don pads until the fifth day, but who cares. It was actual practice, with a football, organized and with intent.

The first day also carries hope. The idea things will be better. The change in coaching staff and style brought about that immediately, with Jay Norvell's approach a breath of fresh air and an offense which puts the Rams back in the current century.

Norvell and his team are an unblemished canvas – 0-0 – and everything feels possible at this moment.

"I'm hopeful for a great season. At the same time, I'm confident with it," sophomore safety Jack Howell said. "We came out here and it was a lot different from spring ball. Everybody knew what they were doing, so it was fast tempo, guys were clicking, and we had a better bond. I'm really excited, really hopeful for the season."

Friday opened camp, the first wave of players in the first group on the practice field before 7 a.m., when the two fields they use were still blocked from the sun by Canvas Stadium. By the end of the second session, the facility was bathed in sunshine, four hours after the first period began.

Just as in spring camp, Norvell and his staff will run two practices, pairing the first and third teams and the second and fourth. There are more reps to be had that way, especially for a team still learning to get a firm grip on new offensive and defensive systems, and the newcomers – 59 in all on the roster – can catch up quicker.

This will carry on for the first three weeks, until school begins. The team will workout six days in succession before the first day off, closing the run with the first scrimmage of camp on a Wednesday.

The new feel is part of the hope, and a major factor in Norvell's upbeat attitude.

"I'm just excited to get started. We have a lot of work to do," he said. "I think we have to develop a consistency of practice, attention to detail in meetings and just the way of going about our business. I think the kids are in great shape. I think Coach Jordon Simmons and his staff (strength and conditioning) did an amazing job. They're excited to go, and we've added some new kids who are fun to work with. It's like Christmas when you get new toys.

"I told one of our quarterbacks, I said, you've got some new toys out here, let's make sure we use them. You're not one of those guys that gets up on Christmas, opens his presents and plays with the box, are you? Play with the new toys we've got."

Many of them – Norvell called wideout Tory Horton the fastest toy under the tree – were here in the spring, giving a preview of part of the change. Much of the coaching staff followed Norvell to Colorado State, as did a group of nine players, Horton among them.

The group is one which is used to winning. To going to bowl games. The idea – and hope – is they are bringing the attitude and the required approach with them.

"It's just the mission statement we have. We're very dialed in on the mission," Horton said. "We know what we want, we know what we're trying to come out and accomplish, so we just mainly focus on taking those steps to succeed.

"I think it's like tattooed on us everywhere we're at. We preach it so much. Everybody knows what we're here to do, we know the tasks that we've got. We know what we're going to get when we go into season, but we know to have a level mind, to stay focused and block all the outside noise out and focus on what we came here to do."

Last week, former coach Sonny Lubick came and spoke to Norvell and his staff, and Lubick was on the practice field Friday, along with his former defensive coordinator, Larry Kerr. Norvell sees it as a blessing to have someone with Lubick's knowledge of the game around to pick his brain, and as the players exited the field, they each stopped by to shake the hand of the man whose name is on their playing field.

For good reason. His teams won. Not just games, but conference championships. Lubick's teams cracked the national rankings. They regularly entered a season with not just hope, but confidence.

Howell, the offspring of one of Lubick's former players, said both feelings existed within him the first day, focusing on why his unit will carry its weight.

"On defense, we fly to the ball. We're a fast team and we like to get to the ball," he said. "We like to intercept the ball and we make tackles. We pride ourselves in being in that top percent that gets to the ball and make plays. We will make plays."

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