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ENMU footballers check in for 2018 campaign

PORTALES — On Saturday morning, more than 100 Eastern New Mexico football players arrived at Greyhound Arena to kickoff fall camp. A grand total of 125 Greyhounds checked-in to the arena for physicals and meetings — with 10 more arriving when classes start — before embarking on the first day of practice on Monday.

“Well, the first week or so (of practice), you’re really looking at evaluating all the players,” Hounds coach Kelley Lee said. “You want to see who came back in shape, who came back ready to go, who’s made improvements, and then looking at your newcomers and transfers.

“We’re trying to find out where everyone fits within our offensive and defensive schemes, and special teams roles. After that, you’re really trying to get your offense and defense to come together. Once you get your personnel figured out, what are you gonna be able to do within the framework of your schemes, conceptually, to maximize those talents?”

Some say that football is 90 percent mental and 10 percent physical, and anymore in fall camp, that seems to be the case. In fact, just two hours a day is spent on the field. ENMU will also get a weight lift in, along with some walkthroughs. However, it’s mostly about film study.

“The majority of our time is spent in the film room, evaluating those practices, evaluating game films and cut-ups to get prepared,” Lee explained. However, due to the stringent schedule, players don’t really have much time to do any extra film evaluation on their own, so that time together becomes even more crucial.

“We do a lot (of film study together), but this time of year, (our players) don’t really have much time to do a lot on their own, because we pretty much monopolize their time,” Lee said. “But once school starts, we have a limited amount of time with them by the NCAA. So, they’ve got to watch a lot of film on their own then.”

Speaking of not having time with the players, the NCAA doesn’t allow the coaches to work with the players in the summertime, except for strength and conditioning coaches. Lee had previously mentioned during LSC Media Day that from what he’s heard, more players stuck around to train this summer than ever before.

“I know there was a lot of kids in town,” Lee said. “Usually, if there’s a lot of kids in town, then you’re getting pretty good work in the summer — because they’ll hold each other accountable.”

Eastern will practice on the field from 8:30-10:30 a.m. on Monday morning, along with the aforementioned workouts, walkthroughs and film study throughout the day. The Greyhounds will open the season at Missouri S&T on Aug. 30.