ABILENE, Texas – The 2010 McMurry football season became even more official Sunday night when the team held its first full-pads practice of the season Sunday night at Wilford Moore Stadium.
Although the practice layout looked much like all the other practices previous and the practices to follow, the added element of full contact added excitement to the team. However, it didn't begin without flaw.
“I just want more effort, we kind of acted like we were still playing in shorts, but some of that is understandable because it was the first night in pads,” said head coach Hal Mumme. “We did have some good efforts, but I just want it to be a lot more consistent.”
Following up on the first full-contact practice, the first two-a-day practice day of the year is Monday for McMurry.
“It's a really tough day tomorrow, they've got three workouts in a 24 hour period so they know it's going to be hard,” Mumme said. “By the time we get to this point tomorrow night they should be pretty exhausted.”
In the team's “bandit” drill that generally takes up 30-40 minutes of practice each night,
Jake Mullin, the all-conference returnee at quarterback, ran with the first team while redshirt freshman
Stephen Warren also received reps at quarterback. Both the offense and defense won battles in the no-huddle style drill that prepares both sides of the ball for a fast-paced game.
Defensive coordinator Joe Lee Dunn's long-standing tradition of “Packer Day” drill continue for the defense to close practice. Before any varsity defensive player can set foot on the field for Dunn's defenses, they must be able to complete 15 full minutes of up-downs consecutively. The staff builds the players to this strenuous task by adding more time of up-downs broken up by 40-yard sprints in between for “rest.” The official “Packer Day” for McMurry's defense will take place Friday night.
McMurry will hold its first practice Monday morning at 9 a.m. before concluding the day with its second practice at 7 p.m.
The team is looking to build on a 4-6 season from 2009 and a fifth-place finish in the American Southwest Conference in Mumme's first season as head coach.
