'I think there's a storm brewing': Ashland U football opens camp with something to prove
Football is back at Ashland University.
The Eagles hit the field at 8 a.m. Thursday for their first of 14 practices leading up to the Sept. 1 season opener at Jack Miller Stadium against Notre Dame College.
AU faces a 10-game slate this season with eight Great Midwest Athletic Conference games and nonleague games against Notre Dame and Quincy.
The Eagles finished 5-5 in 2021 and enter 2022 with a streak of 14 consecutive seasons finishing at .500 or better.
“We have a chance to have a really, really good team,” coach Lee Owens said. “But what can’t happen, you just can’t get hit by injuries.
“That’s why we worked so hard this summer. We try to practice fast and stay healthy in practice. If we can stay healthy, we’re going to be pretty good.”
The Eagles limit their practice work to two hours on the field once a day, and Owens plans to work his team in full pads four times — including two scrimmages — leading up to the first game.
But that doesn’t mean the next two weeks won’t be busy for the 160 players who checked in Wednesday.
Players report to the Troop Center at 6:30 a.m. each day. In addition to practice, the schedule includes meetings, film study, weightlifting, walkthroughs and team-building activities.
“It’s not like we take the rest of the day off (after practice),” Owens said. “We get a lot of stuff done. There’s a lot of things we can do other than just go out and practice again for two hours.
“They’re all here at 6:30 in the morning, and we cut them loose at 9:30 or 10 (p.m.) and then lights out at 10:30.”
Veteran quarterback Austin Brenner is back for the Eagles after missing the second half of the 2021 season and spring practice because of a broken leg.
He leads a veteran room that includes Trent Maddox, who started three games and played in eight last season; University of Buffalo transfer Trevor Bycznski; and Cameron Blair, who started two games and played in five in 2021.
Running back Gei’vonni Washington is full-go after a late-season injury and limited work in the spring.
Defensive tackle Nick Cone also was injured last season and missed spring ball but is working himself back into the picture.
The only Eagle whose eligibility remains in question before the opener is receiver Logan Bolin, who is awaiting word from the NCAA on a waiver request.
“We’re pretty full force at this point,” Owens said.
After a two-year COVID-19 disruption, the season that started Thursday also represents nearly a full year of a return to the normal rhythms of a football team — a complete schedule in 2021, spring football and now fall camp.
The 2020 season was canceled because of the pandemic. Who might be healthy enough to play and who might be quarantined was a week-to-week proposition in 2021.
“Like a lot of teams in America, we went through two tough COVID years, really tough COVID years,” Owens said. “We lost one (season), and the other one we didn’t know on Saturday who we had and who we didn’t have.
“To get back to some normalcy is good. Young people especially need some certainty in their life. Football was always one of those things they had, that rock they could hang onto, and it was taken from them.”
One positive from the COVID experience is an older football team. Taking advantage of the extra COVID year of eligibility, the Eagles have several fifth-year players, some sixth-year players and Bolin, who could be back for his seventh season.
“Getting that extra year has really made a big difference for a lot of guys,” Owens said. “This is a group — it’s not a rah-rah group — it’s an older group. It’s a mature group. We have 16 players in graduate school, key players.
“There’s a quiet confidence and, at the same time, I think there’s a storm brewing. It’s really good to see that. We’re a team that has something to prove.”
With that in mind, the focus for the next two weeks will be on stacking good day on top of good day until the 6 p.m. kickoff Sept. 1 against Notre Dame.
That means being sharp, working on timing and practicing fast.
“The theme is ‘This Day’,” Owens said. “You play the game of football a play at a time, a series at a time, a game at a time. We’re trying to take it a step further. This season it’s a day at a time. Make every day a great day. Get the most out of it. Bring the juice every day.
“If we put a whole bunch of great days together, we’ll be ready to kick it off the first of September. We’ll have a chance to go out and really play and hopefully perform the way we think we’re capable of.”
This article originally appeared on Ashland Times Gazette: Ashland University football begins camp with focused mindset
