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UMHB football opens fall camp with first practice

Posted at 8:08 PM, Aug 11, 2016
and last updated 2016-08-11 21:08:48-04

Belton, Texas – The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor football team opened the 2016 fall camp with one of the crispest opening day workouts in recent memory on Thursday morning. The newcomers went through an hour and 45 minute practice to open the day before the returners hit the field for their own hour and 45 minute session to kick off the fall schedule.

A total of 159 players were on the field for the two workouts with the newcomers looking sharp and holding up well under the onslaught of new information being handed to them. The uptempo practice was heavy on repetition with the coaches having to spend less time teaching the new concepts.

“I think it is a credit to the guys we are bringing in that we could have that kind of workout on the first day,” Fredenburg said. “We wanted to give them a whole bunch of stuff to digest on the first day and then we will go back and do a little more teaching from here. But I was pleased with how well they did today and I thought they were in good shape for the first day.”

The positive feel of the newcomer workout carried over into a solid opening practice for the returning players. Seven offensive starters return and eight defensive starters are back from a team that finished 11-2 last season and after an offseason built around developing more leadership in the locker room, the man in charge liked what he saw in that area on day one.

“I really wanted to see some leadership and I did see that today,” Fredenburg said. “I wanted guys to step up and demanding and expecting guys to give great effort. I think we will see more and more of that as camp goes on, but everyone was very eager and ready to go today.”

Much of the attention in the offseason dealt with the search for a replacement for three-year starting quarterback Zach Anderson. Blake Jackson looked impressive on Thursday as the favorite to win that job, but it was the guys on the other end of those passes who made the biggest impression on the Cru’s head coach.

“I was really impressed with our receivers today and they made some nice catches and some incredible plays,” Fredenburg said. “Blake was really throwing the ball well and he has stepped up and really taken on the role of leader for this team.”

Thirty-eight additional players are expected to join workouts when school starts on August 22nd, giving the Cru 197 total players in camp. The Cru will continue with the split practice schedule on Friday and Saturday before holding the first full-team workout on Sunday evening. UMHB will hold its first practice in full pads on Monday morning. All of those workouts will be held at the Cru practice fields.