I am happy to say that I have seen about three practises so far. Last night was the best.
"Under the lights" at NAU Stadium is an open air football field with a track field around it and stadium stands on on side.
Last year I tried to take notes and watch. This year I am just watching. Consequently, I am seeing a lot more, but not writing much. Oh well, I am having a blast. There are ususally several drills going on at the same time, so you have to pick you posion!
Last night, I got to see The Fight. In case you had not heard, it was the one between Duece and Dock. Since I was watching a lot more, I was fortuneate enough to catch the whole deal, from the start of the drill through the tangle-tails part.
The drill pit one OL against one DL; in this case is was Dock vs. Duece. The objective of the drill is for the DL to get to the QB; and they were going full tilt.
This is a man's drill, no doubt about it. These are natural enemys, competeing in front of their coachs and peers. There is no draw, if the DL doesn't get to the QB in the first rush / move combination, the OL wins.
Dockett came hard, driving straight and when he made contact with Duece, he changed direction trying to get his left shoulder on the inside of Duece and the line to the QB.
Docket succeeded in gettng his left shoulder in the middle of Duece's chest when the OL locked up his his hands on Docket inside chest/pads. Dockett was driving Duece slowly upfield, but he was not breaking away; chunks of grass and sod are flying around as these guy are moving up the field at a walking pace.
Dockett knows he has got break away and get to the QB so he trys to rip his left arm up and break the OL lock. He succeeds in driving his arm into the left side of Duece's chin and breaking half of Duece's lock and all of Duece's patience.
At this point, I will call it a draw. If Dockett had avoided an "illegal hands to the face", Duece would probably not have been called for holding with his right hand. It really doesn't matter, because this is when the fight started.
Duece decided to quit holding with his right hand and start punching with it. Really, this fight only lasted seconds, but from that first punch, those two went at it like they wanted it. There was no "somebody hold me" ,strutting and threatening like you see in baseball or basketball, these two met like they had an appointment.
For those who want to know who won the fight, I will tell you this, they both got some serious blows in, Duece's helmut did fly, and I mean fly, off, but he was completely unconcerned. If left alone, this fight had a long way to go, but after a couple seconds of shock, both OL and DL snuffed the full-contact exhibition with a wave of bodies.
What I noticed? The Whiz ment it when he said wanted a physical team; that drill is ment to toughen you up. Finally, both Duece and Dockett are plenty tough already.
Well, time to get ready for the 3:00 practise.
"Under the lights" at NAU Stadium is an open air football field with a track field around it and stadium stands on on side.
Last year I tried to take notes and watch. This year I am just watching. Consequently, I am seeing a lot more, but not writing much. Oh well, I am having a blast. There are ususally several drills going on at the same time, so you have to pick you posion!
Last night, I got to see The Fight. In case you had not heard, it was the one between Duece and Dock. Since I was watching a lot more, I was fortuneate enough to catch the whole deal, from the start of the drill through the tangle-tails part.
The drill pit one OL against one DL; in this case is was Dock vs. Duece. The objective of the drill is for the DL to get to the QB; and they were going full tilt.
This is a man's drill, no doubt about it. These are natural enemys, competeing in front of their coachs and peers. There is no draw, if the DL doesn't get to the QB in the first rush / move combination, the OL wins.
Dockett came hard, driving straight and when he made contact with Duece, he changed direction trying to get his left shoulder on the inside of Duece and the line to the QB.
Docket succeeded in gettng his left shoulder in the middle of Duece's chest when the OL locked up his his hands on Docket inside chest/pads. Dockett was driving Duece slowly upfield, but he was not breaking away; chunks of grass and sod are flying around as these guy are moving up the field at a walking pace.
Dockett knows he has got break away and get to the QB so he trys to rip his left arm up and break the OL lock. He succeeds in driving his arm into the left side of Duece's chin and breaking half of Duece's lock and all of Duece's patience.
At this point, I will call it a draw. If Dockett had avoided an "illegal hands to the face", Duece would probably not have been called for holding with his right hand. It really doesn't matter, because this is when the fight started.
Duece decided to quit holding with his right hand and start punching with it. Really, this fight only lasted seconds, but from that first punch, those two went at it like they wanted it. There was no "somebody hold me" ,strutting and threatening like you see in baseball or basketball, these two met like they had an appointment.
For those who want to know who won the fight, I will tell you this, they both got some serious blows in, Duece's helmut did fly, and I mean fly, off, but he was completely unconcerned. If left alone, this fight had a long way to go, but after a couple seconds of shock, both OL and DL snuffed the full-contact exhibition with a wave of bodies.
What I noticed? The Whiz ment it when he said wanted a physical team; that drill is ment to toughen you up. Finally, both Duece and Dockett are plenty tough already.
Well, time to get ready for the 3:00 practise.
