The Illinois State football team opened its fall camp Saturday night under the lights at Hancock Stadium. The 90-man Redbird roster battled through an extensive conditioning session before beginning the 24-period practice.
The conditioning consisted of four endurance stations that was followed by a series of sprints. The Redbird returners cruised through the session, while some the newcomers got an early taste of college football.
We wanted to put guys through an agility circuit and wanted to see guys moving around, head coach Denver Johnson said. We wanted to try to gas the old guys and get a look at the new guys. The varsity guys, for the most part, came back in great shape and ready to go. After (conditioning), we just got into practice and started down our installation schedule.
In addition to being happy about the shape of his Redbirds, Johnson was pleased with the freshmen talent.
There are some impressive youngsters out here, Johnson said. It is to early to start adjusting the depth chart, but certainly there are some new guys out here that look like theyre going to be able to help our football team.
The Redbirds fielded nearly 35 newcomers in the first practice.
During the practice, the Birds worked on their special teams with field goal and field goal defense. Afterwards, the team broke down by position. For a series of periods the quarterbacks, including returning starter Mike Souza, worked on pass routes with the receivers and running backs.
Souza, who is in his second fall camp with the Redbirds, has a different approach this season.
Roles have kind of switched, Souza said. I was the guy that didnt know what I was doing last fall and now we have a couple of guys that are going to be underneath me and Yance that are going to need a lot of our help. Within our position that is the biggest difference, but overall offensively we are all just really excited and want to get going. As coach Johnson would say our jazz levels are running high. As long as we keep working in practice, Im really excited about the chance we have as an offense to go out and do some special things this year.
The Redbirds will return to the field on Sunday at 3 p.m.
