Emporia State football coach Garin Higgins stopped short of calling his team a well-oiled machine after the first practice on Thursday night at Welch Stadium.
What Higgins did notice is the number of confused faces was at a minimum, while the excitement around the program is at an all-time high as the Higgins administration enters its third season.
“For the first day, I’d say it’s probably the best practice we’ve had as far as first-day’s practice,” Higgins said. “The one thing I noticed is there’s a comfort level out there. You can tell we got some returning players back now. It’s nice to see us look a little fluid in what we’re doing.”
One thing Higgins wants to see in training camp is for leaders to emerge. He said on Monday at MIAA media day that he and his coaches would have to lead the way early on.
But the smoothness of Thursday’s practice indicated there’s leadership coming from elsewhere.
“I feel today a lot of us stepped up. The coaches didn’t really have to coach today,” senior linebacker Katrel Larkins said. “We stepped up and basically took the lead out there helping out the freshmen. We’re coming together as a family, and that helps out a lot.”
The Hornets have 16 starters returning from last year’s team, and most of the key returning players have been in the program for three years now.
There are 35 first-year freshmen, but they blended in on Thursday. Sophomore safety Chris Poston remembered his first practice last season and said he was scared as you-know-what.
“I definitely feel more comfortable,” Poston said. “The thing I noticed most today is the amount of athletes we have out here. Both sides of the ball, I saw so much speed.
“We’re getting a lot better at communicating. Coach (Bryce) Saia came in the spring and told us the No. 1 thing we have to work on, not only as a secondary but also as a defense, is communication, and I thought today we were talking well and maintaining the offensive attack.”
Poston emerged as one of the Hornets’ top defensive players near the end of last season — racking up a season-high 15 tackles against Northwest Missouri. Relying on freshmen on defense like Poston last year was a staple of the past, but this year the Hornets should be able to mix in a few freshmen and rely mostly on experience.
On offense, the position that might be the most experienced is quarterback, with senior Andre Sloan El and sophomore Zach Rampy both in their third season at ESU.
When asked what stood out on Thursday, Higgins said his quarterbacks, who he thought were vocal and in a comfort zone. Higgins is comfortable enough with their experience that he’s moving at a faster tempo with his offense.
“We put in more offense today than we ever have,” Higgins said. “Again, there’s a comfort level there, and anytime you have a comfort level, kids look like they’re moving quicker because they have confidence in what they’re doing.”
Although the comfort level of the Hornets was the overriding theme of the first practice, some things stayed the same.
For instance, after Higgins addressed the team and ended practice, defensive coordinator Ken Gordon kept his defense around for some extra disciplinary conditioning, his booming voice loud enough to reach White Auditorium.
“When he’s not screaming, that means something’s wrong,” Larkins said. “He’s been screaming all day.”
As Poston walked to the locker room, he said it wasn’t as bad as last year, when Gordon made the defense run backwards uphill after practice.
No need for that on such a smooth first day.