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University of Minnesota Athletics
Camp Blog: A New Plan for Practice
8/7/2010 12:00:00 AM | Football
GopherSports.com will provide a daily blog from the beginning of preseason traiing camp until the week of the season-opener at Middle Tennessee State, set for Sept. 2. Check back here often for updates from throughout preseason camp. Associate Athletic Communications Director Andy Seeley and other staff members will be covering camp. If you would like to ask a question about preseason camp, have a request for something you'd like to see in the blog or just a comment on the blog, feel free to send an e-mail at aseeley@umn.edu.
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For most people, Saturday is a day off used for rest and relaxation. But for the Golden Gophers football program, the work week is just starting.
The Gophers continued preseason camp on Saturday with their second day of practice - starting with a 7 a.m. wake-up call and lasting all the way to 10 o'clock at night. It's business as usual at the Gibson-Nagurski Football Complex with one exception. Head coach Tim Brewster has changed this year's camp schedule by splitting the team into two units - returners and newcomers - and having them practice at different times for the first three days of camp.
"I think it's going to allow us to do a better job of teaching the young freshmen-of getting our hands on the freshmen, totally spending meeting time with just the freshmen, and then on the on the field time-as opposed to them being in a line that's got four or five guys in the line," Brewster said. "I think it'll really help the amount of reps they get. I think it's going to help them from a learning standpoint, from a fundamental standpoint, and then most importantly from a confidence standpoint."
Saturday marked the second-day in which the team used the new practice schedule. They'll continue working out in separate groups on Sunday before coming together as a full team on Monday. (Note: When one group is practicing, the other group is in the weight room for their weightlifting program, the groups then switch for the afternoon practice.)
"I think that (the newcomers) will go into the fourth day with the older guys much more confident, as opposed to if they were with the older guys from day one. It's the way it used to be in the old days. We used to have three days to work with just the freshmen before we brought the older guys in. Every head coach looks at every way in which you think you can improve your team in the offseason and as I looked at it I thought that was a way we could spend more time with those young guys and help them learn."
Minnesota opens the 2010 season on Sept. 2 at Middle Tennessee State.
-Brian Deutsch, Athletic Communications Assistant
