Boston College Athletics
Eagles Ready For First Scrimmage
August 12, 2003 | Football
Aug. 12, 2003
The BC football team practiced Tuesday afternoon on the Alumni Stadium turf; the single-session day followed Monday's double practice session.
"We made it through our first two-a-day yesterday," head coach Tom O'Brien says. "The schedule's a little different, and I think we're all still feeling our way into it. The kids responded well. I think they liked the evening practice. It was a little cooler for them.
"With the way the schedule is, they've approached each practice minus the humdrum of two-a-days," he says. "There's more emotion. There's more concentration with the way this is structured. Hopefully we can keep it going, and we'll see how we're doing after we scrimmage tomorrow night."
As per NCAA requirements, the team is allowed to practice twice again on Wednesday. A regular practice in the morning will be followed by that scrimmage in the evening, the first of three planned for preseason camp. O'Brien says he is anxious to see his team perform in a setting more similar to game conditions.
"Right now we're still doing a lot of teaching and trying to work toward the scrimmage tomorrow night to see which guys can play football," he says. "We're not into shifting personnel right now because we want to give them the best opportunity to perform tomorrow night."
O'Brien plans to run approximately 30 plays for his first and second groups and 20 for the third group. "We haven't tackled yet, which we need to do," he says. "Plus it gives you a chance to see some of the guys in a non-practice situation. They're out there by themselves and they have to respond. The toughest thing is to simulate game conditions. The closest we can do is a scrimmage situation."
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O'Brien is scheduled to appear live at 10 p.m. Tuesday on cable network CN8's Sports Pulse show with host Ed Berliner to discuss preseason camp and the upcoming season.
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Check with bceagles.com Wednesday evening for a brief report following the first scrimmage of the practice season.
