Hey’s it’s finally football time!
By Robbie Neiswanger / The Morning News / neiswanger@nwaonline.net
Thursday, August 7, 2008 2:26 PM CDT
FAYETTEVILLE — Quarterback Casey Dick stood in the back of the room, while most of his teammates polished off a team dinner, and said he was ready to go to work.
Tight end Andrew Davie, who was just a few feet away, admitted he doesn’t know what to expect from coach Bobby Petrino but is eager to face whatever happens.
One by one, every Arkansas player assigned to speak with the media on Sunday, the team’s reporting day, seemed to carry the same sort of message.
Yes, they know their first practice is going to be stifling hot.
Of course, they realize it’s going to be extremely taxing.
They know they’ll be yelled at by coaches all afternoon.
And sure, chances are, plenty will throw up before it ends.
But, hey, it’s football!
If you think your life was bad this summer, when the only things quenching your football fix were the annoying Brett Favre saga and those boring Arena Football League games, you should’ve tried life as an Arkansas player.
The truth is, there’s only so many knee-buckling wind sprints someone can run with a strength and conditioning coach growling at you, so much weight you can lift and so many seemingly tortuous workouts you can take before you start to lose it a little bit. Or, at the least, start longing for tortuous practices.
“Let’s get started,” safety Rashaad Johnson said. “We’ve been working hard all summer, so we’re ready to see what we can do now.”
They’re definitely not getting a walk in the park under Petrino.
Davie probably put it best Sunday, when he said to take the demanding spring practices under the coach in April and add “30 degrees” to it this week.
I’m sweating just thinking about it.
But the Razorbacks still seem to be smiling.
Remember, it’s football!
“It’s hot,” Davie said. “It’s going to be hot. It’s going to be hot when we’re playing our games. So get used to it.
“We’re just ready to go. It comes to the point where you get almost tired of working out. You’re ready to play. That’s what we’re all here for.”
Clearly, Davie is a player who has lost it a little bit.
But, clearly, he wasn’t alone in the Broyles Center on Sunday.
(Robbie Neiswanger is a columnist for The Morning News in Springdale.)
