Winter Conditioning Begins

Yesterday marked the official beginning to the Hoosier Football offseason! I arose from my slumber at 5 a.m. to see dark skies outside and surprisingly warm weather. The air sort of contained the smell of spring as I walked to my SUV to drive to The Rock. On the way there I popped some Lil' Wayne in my CD player in an effort to get myself pumped up, though I had already gotten my mind right the night before.

I'd say we got off to a good start. Every current member of the team had their toes on the goal line of Mellencamp indoor field at 6 a.m. and was dressed and ready to go. Head strength coach Mark Wateska was more than ready to go. As he barked out orders my teammates and I listened, starting out with warm-up drills to get our blood flowing before proceeding to our stretch lines.

We did a workout know as a sprint ladder. It felt like a good workout to start us off. Things will only get harder from here on out, as they should. I did my very best to lead the pack and did just that for many of the sprints, although there was one pleasant surprise in my peripheral vision who kept inching ahead of me. It was the speedy redshirt freshman, Chris Adkins. Boy, can he run! He has amazing stamina as well. For much of the workout I was seriously trying to catch him, but I could not. I'm proud of him for his hard work and I know he'll keep it up.

Jammie Kirlew was another standout. He has long earned the reputation of having a great work ethic to this point and he did not disappoint yesterday. Jammie won his group's sprints every single time.

A person I was very excited to see running was Terrance Turner. If you don't remember, Terrance tore his ACL against Iowa during the regular season. I have seen him work so hard rehabbing that knee since then and he looked pretty good. He ran with the "B" group (the big skill group) and more than held his own. I'm very proud of him and there's no doubt in my mind that he will work his knee back to where it needs to be and come back even stronger.

I'm looking forward to our next running workout on Thursday morning. It should be fun and I'm sure many will pick up the pace since we've gotten that first run out of the way.

TOMORROW
I'll have some words about my now former coach and his great new opportunity!

WORD FOR THE ROAD
"Hard work provides us with today's needs, prepares us for future uncertainties, and supplies us with opportunities for life." -Tom Ellsworth, Senior Minister of Sherwood Oaks Christian Church