By Jason Pugh, Northwestern State Assistant Athletic Director for External Relations; featured photo by Chris Reich, NSU Photographic Services
NATCHITOCHES – The first day of practice in full pads always sends first-year Northwestern State football coach Blaine McCorkle to a happy place mentally.
His first Demon squad made sure that held true following NSU’s two-hour workout in pads Monday morning inside Turpin Stadium.
“Short-yardage, goal-line, scrimmages are always my favorite practices,” McCorkle said. “I spent too many years as an offensive line coach to not wake up excited today. We threw a lot at them. It was the first time we went live to the ground with full tackling. You’re only allowed so many (of those days) in camp. The guys worked hard. We’ll have a lot of film to clean up.
“There were a lot of nerves out there, and that’s to be expected. We’re growing, and we’ll learn from it.”
It wasn’t only McCorkle and the coaching staff who woke up excited for the practice that kicked off Week 2 of fall camp.
Nor was it only one side of the ball.
“There’s always energy when we can come out and hit,” safety Christian Williams said. “When we get to tackle and bring the offense to the ground, it gets us excited. We did what we’re supposed to do. We were out here having fun.”
Both sides of the ball produced their share of big moments in the first morning practice of camp, which came after the Demons practiced five times under the new Turpin Stadium lights this past week.
Beginning Monday, camp mostly will be a daytime affair. This week’s practices will be held daily at 8:45 a.m. ahead of Saturday’s scrimmage, which also begins at that time.
A humid first week gave way to an extremely warm day under the morning sun, but the Demons handled the elements as they moved a day closer to the Aug. 29 season opener at Tulsa.
“The heat brings us together,” offensive lineman Caleb Billiot said. “Every team goes through adversity. This is a positive for us, being down south in the heat. Not every team experiences that. Being able to perform in the heat will get us ready for any other weather conditions. We’re going to lean on each other and pick up each other. It’s a great advantage for us.”
The next step for the Demons comes Tuesday morning at 8:45 when they resume camp.
“There were a lot of ebbs and flows today,” McCorkle said. “When we switched gears and went live, they cranked it up. That doesn’t mean the execution was perfect, and we’ll clean it up. They responded with energy and effort when they needed to. We need to keep it consistent through practice and not wait on that one drill we’re all excited about.
“It was a good start to this week. We’re going to have to have the mindset that we’re in training camp forever, and we’re never getting out of it. We’ve got to lock in and find the rhythm of camp, but it’s a good start.”