ELON, N.C. – The Elon Phoenix football team held its first practice in full pads on an overcast Monday afternoon on the Hunt and Tucker practice fields.
Phoenix head coach
Rich Skrosky provided his insights following Elon's third practice of preseason camp.
On how camp has progressed:
"It's going according to plan. The weather's been good. The intensity's been solid. I think our enthusiasm has been good as we've gotten further into camp. There are starting to be some guys that are starting to catch coaches' eyes. We're starting to get enough film watched – and that's everything, special teams and individual periods and team periods. Some guys are starting to get the coaching staff to talk, which is a good thing."
On putting on full pads for the first time:
"I think we practiced well enough in uppers in day four that the transition to full pads was good. I didn't think there was anything dropping from yesterday to today in terms of execution."
On the off-field work:
"It's a full day. Today's schedule, they were up early for breakfast. Then they had meetings and a lift this morning. They got a good upper body lift this morning. Between position meetings and special teams meetings we met for an hour and a half. Then they had lunch, a little bit of a break and then came out to practice. Now they'll go get dinner and come right back to a meeting about 7:15 p.m. and be there until about 10. We try to break it up and have some speakers come in. Wednesday we'll have a team activity. It can be monotonous. The physical demands aren't easy, but aren't as challenging as getting over the monotony of being in camp every day. We need to get the most out of a meeting, the most out of a walk-through, the most out of a film session, the most out of a lift."
On leading up to the first two-a-day:
"The last practice before we get a non-practice day, which will be tomorrow, will be a physical practice. We'll tackle and do a couple live things tomorrow. It's not a true scrimmage, but we'll give them some situation stuff and let them play. We'll do that pretty regularly throughout camp."
On the special situations reviewed at the end of each practice (following Monday's session the team practiced what to do if a missed field goal is returned):
"Everybody points to the Alabama-Auburn game because it was such a huge game. You know that it was covered. So you have to do your diligence and cover it. It's a good opportunity when we're ending practice, you've got the whole team there. What you hope happens is that, as a freshman, you're going to hear it 10 times in your career so when it happens, it's like, 'Yeah, I know exactly what I have to do.' And that's a program thing. Some of them we'll do throughout the season as well. That one time it happens could mean going to the playoffs."
Upcoming 2015 Elon Phoenix Preseason Practice ScheduleTues., Aug. 11 at 2:15 p.m.
Thurs., Aug. 13 at 8 a.m.
Thurs., Aug. 13 at 7:15 p.m.
Fri., Aug. 14 at 7 p.m. (Rhodes Stadium)
Sat., Aug. 15 at 2:15 p.m.
Sun., Aug. 16 at 8 a.m.
Sun., Aug. 16 at 7:15 p.m.
Tues., Aug. 18 at 7:15 p.m. (Rhodes Stadium)
Wed., Aug. 19 at 2:15 p.m.
Thurs., Aug. 20 at 8 a.m.
Thurs., Aug. 20 at 7:15 p.m.
Sat., Aug. 22 at 3 p.m. (Rhodes Stadium)
Sun., Aug. 23 at 2:15 p.m.
Mon., Aug. 24 at 8:15 a.m.
Mon., Aug. 24 at 7:45 p.m.
* Thurs., Aug. 27 at 4:05 p.m. (Rhodes Stadium)
*After classes have started
– ELON –