University of North Carolina Athletics
Countdown to Kickoff: Dawn of Camp
August 12, 2005 | Football
Aug. 12, 2005
For the last two months, we've been getting you ready for the opening of training camp. Finally, it's here. Now we've changed the theme of our football coverage from Countdown to Camp to Countdown to Kickoff. Over the next month, we'll be providing wall-to-wall coverage of Carolina's football training camp. Check back daily for new stories, interviews, practice notes, and practice photos. Stay up-to-date with all training camp happenings with our Camp Tracker, which will be updated and expanded as camp progresses.
By Adam Lucas
There is still a hint of pink in the sky when strength and conditioning coach Jeff Connors delivers the day's first crucial instructions.
"Make sure you start with both feet behind the white line," he barks. "Make sure your foot touches the white line every time. Make sure you are fully across the line when I say, `Time.'"
The day's first activity on the first football-oriented day of this year's training camp is an immediate sign of toughness: upperclassmen must pass a rigorous conditioning test. The team is divided into their normal weightlifting groups--linemen come first at 6:45 a.m., followed by the combo (linebackers and tight ends) group, followed by the skill group. The groups report to the practice field as a unit, do some stretching, and then must perform four 300-yard dashes--broken up into 25-yard bursts, which means 12 changes of direction are required in every rep--in a time set by the strength and conditioning staff. For the skill players, for example, every 300-yard repetition must be done in 67 seconds or less.
The first rep is a leisurely jog for most players. Having spent the summer in the conditioning program, a quick 300-yard session is no problem. Wily seniors usually know to conserve their energy in the first sprint, because they'll need it by the fourth rep.
There is powerful incentive to make the designated times: anyone who fails to cross the line on any rep must report back to the practice field Saturday at 6 a.m. to make another attempt at passing the test.
The linemen are saddled with an earlier test time, but it comes with an added benefit--they'll be the first to finish and the first to breakfast, although some players hang around to cheer on their teammates after making their times. Chase Page and Tommy Davis cruise through their conditioning and then stand on the sideline exhorting the combo group.
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Countdown to Kickoff: 29 Days
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The players take Connors's rules seriously. Transfer quarterback Joe Dailey fears he missed touching the white line on the last turn of his second rep and makes a quick U-turn. He touches the line, turns on the jets, and runs past the finish line with a second to spare.
Although the skill group has the best athletes of the morning, they're not immune from testing struggles--thanks partly to a lower time requirement. Matt Baker leads the third repetition and then, with the final and most sapping rep looming, shouts, "No one misses this last rep! No one misses!"
The players watching have an innate ability to immediately identify their teammates who are likely to struggle, even after just 25 yards when the runners are still tightly packed. Tommy Richardson, who made his time earlier in the morning, spots a straggler early in the fourth and final skill position rep and proceeds to focus all his energy on that player. With just 150 yards to go and time getting tight, Richardson decides more effort is needed, so he begins running alongside his teammate, pacing him and encouraging him with every step. Both players cross the finish line with approximately half a second to spare, negating the need for a 6 a.m. recall.
The morning's results allow John Bunting--the early morning start time means it's one of the only times you'll ever see Bunting on the practice field without a hat--to leave the practice field with a smile.
"The guys want to get this thing out of the way right away," he says. "The ones who make their times do, anyway."
Adam Lucas is the publisher of Tar Heel Monthly and can be reached at alucas@tarheelmonthly.com. He is the coauthor of the official book of the 2005 championship season, Led By Their Dreams, and his book on Roy Williams's first season at Carolina, Going Home Again, is now available in bookstores. To subscribe to Tar Heel Monthly or learn more about Going Home Again, click here.
