Coming off a productive summer during which nearly the entire team participated in voluntary workouts and conditioning, the Elon University football team began its preseason camp Monday, Aug. 4.
Elon will have 25 practices during the next three weeks, all in preparation for the season opener at Duke University Aug. 30.
The team has meetings for much of the day, along with a two-hour practice. In all, it accumulates to about 14 hours of football each day of camp.
“That’s what camp is. It’s an intensive three-week football period,” Elon coach Rich Skrosky said Tuesday after practice. “That’s what they do from the time they get up to the time they go to sleep.
“It’s really nothing but football, eat and rest. That’s what it has to be for these three weeks. So far, but it’s early, so far, we’re doing OK.”
It’s a rigid structure that Elon senior quarterback Mike Quinn said he enjoys, a structure that keeps football on everyone’s mind all the time.
“Camp is really structured,” Quinn said. “I like how the coaches mapped everything out for us. We know what to do from dusk till dawn until the end of the season.”
It’s been that way for much of the summer already. During June and July, Elon players had voluntary weightlifting in the morning and running at night. On the side, players worked together to go over plays and help the freshmen adjust to the new schedule.
Many players took classes and had jobs during the day as well.
“It wasn’t just having the whole team (here), it was having the whole team the whole summer,” Skrosky said. “It was invaluable. To have 80 guys here all summer has really shown in the first two practices.”
As for the practices, Skrosky said everything has gone as expected thus far. He emphasized execution as a focal point.
Nonetheless, there haven’t been any steps backward.
“We’re better suited than we were in the spring,” Quinn said. “We really didn’t lose any steps from the spring.”
? D-LINE ADJUSTMENTS: Midway through the summer, Elon defensive line coach Carlton Hall left to become the associate head coach and D-line coach at Yale University. Elon quickly hired Bill McCord from Bowdoin College to join the staff as a defensive assistant.
Patrick Madden then took over the D-line responsibilities, adding to his role as a special teams assistant.
The transition, or lack thereof, has been smooth.
“Coach Madden has been around this system of defense since 1999,” Skrosky said. “He could recite this stuff he’s been in it for so long.”
Skrosky said hiring another coach to come on and coach the D-line would be tough for everyone to get on the same page with each other, considering the lateness of the change.
“It hasn’t been much of an adjustment,” Elon senior defensive lineman Dustin Ruff said. “(Madden) picked up right away. The intensity’s up, and we still have high expectations.”
The personality Madden brings fits perfectly for the D-line, according to Skrosky.
“His enthusiasm is unbelievable,” Skrosky said. “I told the defense, my barometer from here on out is if (Madden) has more enthusiasm than us, we have to be better.”
? QB BATTLE: Skrosky said in the spring that the quarterback battle would be an open competition between Quinn, the returning starter, and sophomore John Loughery. He said a decision could come as early as Monday, when the team holds its first scrimmage.
“Being the leader of the offense, more than anything else,” Skrosky said of what he’s looking for. “The guy that is able to control the offense and make it his. I think at the end of the day, those have been the best guys … they have a command of the offense. There’s an easiness about them.”
Quinn started all 12 games in 2014, and was recruited to Elon by Skrosky when he served as Pete Lembo’s offensive coordinator. Quinn took first-team snaps on Monday and Tuesday.
“We’re making each other better,” Quinn said. “The better quarterback’s going to play.”
? HOT PRACTICES: Elon is holding a lot of its practices in the afternoon hours, opposed to the cooler mornings or evenings. It’s something Skrosky, who spent the last three years under Lembo in Muncie, Ind., at Ball State University, wants to his team to get used to.
“It’s important to get out in the heat,” Skrosky said. “I’ve made a big deal out of this. Moving to the (Colonial Athletic Association), Elon’s going to have to travel to New Hampshire. You know what? They’re going to have to come down here.
“Warmth has way more of an effect than the cold. We have to make this an advantage for us.”
? NOTABLE: Sophomore punter David Petroni held field goal attempts for sophomore John Gallagher on Tuesday. Last year, Quinn held for Gallagher. … Julius Moore has switched his number. Instead of No. 30, Moore now wears No. 6. … Senior offensive lineman Austin Sowell, who played much of last year at the tackle position, is listed as the first-string center on the depth chart.