I pulled into my parking lot around 8:30 this morning and looked over to the entrance of training camp. There was a lengthy line of around 150 people which I know it does not sound like much. I look at it this way it is only 8:30 in the morning and practice does not even start to 10:30 so to have this many people is a good sign for 1 of 2 things either people will be there for the autograph alley and try to meet the offensive line or will go to the bleachers to watch practice.
I watched the walk through with nothing really exciting happening just players walking through their formations and working on blocking techniques. I find the hour does go very fast. I love to take pictures so this gives me the opportunity to get the pictures of players without their helmets. I had a goal to get a picture of every player trying out for the team and today I finished the goal. It is my own yearbook of sorts. It is a challenge to find every player on the field and get the shots.
The afternoon Mankato heat made its presence felt as once again it joined the fans in making a big sweat bath.
I did meet an interesting person once again this afternoon. His name is Willie Howard and for you Vikings fans he was a draft choice out of Stanford in I beleive he told me 2001.
Willie is the head coach of Cooper High School in Minneapolis. He had brought down some of his team to watch camp. The kids were all in their jerseys. He told me he has 7 Division 1 players on his team. He said with a smile the program is turning around.
It was a great talk and when he did play for the Vikings I remember him in Training Camp as a very friendly person as well. I did get a kick out of a statement he made today, "They made me pay for parking." I wish Willie all the success in the world as he helps young players learn the game.
The practice itself is always filled with many individiual group drills to start the practice making for tough choices in what to watch.
I did notice the quarterbacks down on the south end zone on the first field all take their wrist bands off and come give them to the kids in the front row of the stands before they started their drills. What a nice gesture giving some kids some big smiles.
The wide receiver group is going to be a tough cut if camp goes on like it is. These guys are grabbing just about everything. There is so much youth out there. I saw Jerome Simpson catch a sideline pass and keep running down the sideline. One fan yelled to Jerome, "Hey Jerome do your flip.". If you remember 2011 Jerome did a front flip into the end zone. I thought it was coming again but then Simpson gets low and does a summersault and gets up and continues to run. This Simpson has so much energy and is a true pleasure to talk to.
I truly enjoy 2 specific drills and that is the one on one receiver vs the secondary. There is so much jockying for position to get to the ball. It is intense and awesome to watch to see if a defender can break up the pass.
The other drill is offensive line vs the defensive line one on ones. This is just power vs power. The defense should have the advantage since they are running forwards but once in a while the offensive lineman does a great job. It is not a norm during games since the line work together, but it is sure fun to watch. To hear the players yelling and being so cempetitive is awesome.
To watch practice the feeling I get is the players are ready to hit even if it is
their own. It just looks closer and closer each day somebody may acidentally tackle someone just to get the hitting feeling again. It will something to watch each day.
Thanks for reading
Purplestick
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