Experience A Key In 2015 Training Camp
8/10/2015 7:01:00 AM | Football
There's a different feeling at Sam Houston football preseason training camp. The coaching staff and the players all sense it as practice for the opening of the 2015 season continues this week at Elliott T. Bowers Stadium.
It's the second season for head coach K. C. Keeler and his staff with a squad that returns 51 lettermen including 20 starters from last year's Southland Conference 11-5 championship team.
“You play 16 games like we did last year, coming back doesn't seem like we've been gone that long,” junior quarterback Jared Johnson said. “We're just picking up where we were. I feel like we just left. Most everybody out here went through a whole season together.”
Johnson passed for 3,054 yards and 21 touchdowns and rushed for 999 more as the signal-caller for last year's Bearkat team that reached the FCS semifinals for the third time in four consecutive playoff runs since 2011.
Defensive end P. J. Hall, last year's Southland Conference “Freshman of the Year” and a preseason FCS All-America selection this fall, acknowledges the feeling is the same on the defensive side of the ball.
“We haven't had a lot of missed assignments in practice,” Hall said. “Everyone is picking up right where we left off. We can definitely tell the difference between this year and last year. We all know what we're doing. We're more comfortable so we can just go play harder.”
Sam Houston practices Monday and Tuesday at 8 to 10 in the morning. After a break from on-field activities on Wednesday, the Bearkats will hold two practice sessions on Thursday at 8 a.m. and 3 p.m. and Friday work another 8 to 10 a.m. morning session.
The up-tempo nature of the daily workouts have the players on both sides of the line of scrimmage excited.
“We all were very anxious to get back on the field,” cornerback Trenier Orr said. “You put in all that work in spring ball and over the summer. This is what we do it for.”
Sam Houston will open the 2015 season on Saturday Sept. 5 in Lubbock with the Texas Tech Red Raiders. Two weeks later, Southland Conference action begins with a home matchup with the Lamar Cardinals on Saturday Sept. 19.
“We're working hard to get in shape for Texas Tech,” Hall said. “You know it is going to be hot (with a 2:30 kickoff) and they have a fast-paced offense.”
Even with all the experience back from last year, the Bearkats have been focusing first on fundamentals in early workouts.
“It's not about the scheme right now,” Keeler said. “It's really about fundamentals, playing clean and playing at the tempo we want to play. Last year, we were still trying to figure out what our kids could do in terms of skill set. Now, we have a much better feel for what they can do on the field and how to put them in the best position to be successful.”
Season tickets for Sam Houston's six home games at Elliott T. Bowers Stadium plus the 90th “Battle of the Piney Woods” are on sale now online at www.gobearkats.com or at the SHSU Athletic Ticket Office now located on the west side of Bowers Stadium.
Beginning Thursday and running for the first week of Sam Houston practice, any fan who buys a season ticket will be eligible to win a special prize in a daily season ticket holder drawing.
