FSU eager to start workouts

By Duane Cochran
For the Times West Virginian

FAIRMONT August 05, 2008 10:29 pm

— Fairmont State’s football players spent the first day of fall camp checking into dorms, receiving equipment and catching up on each other’s summer activities.
All in all it was a rather light-hearted, enjoyable day, especially for the veterans, who know full well starting Wednesday and Thursday the real work will begin.
“It was exciting for all of us to be back,” said junior linebacker Nate Black, who has emerged as one of the leaders on the team. “We were all up in the hallways today sharing stories and stuff about our summers and really enjoying catching up with each other.
“But you know come Wednesday and Thursday it’s time for us to get down to business.”
Today the Falcons will spend the majority of their time meeting with various administrators at the school. On Thursday physical testing for the team will take place in the morning, and the first practice in helmets only is scheduled for 3:15 p.m. FSU will practice in helmets again Friday afternoon and in shells on both Saturday and Sunday morning.
The squad’s first full-pad workouts are slated for Monday at 8:45 a.m.
“We’ve got a lot of work ahead of us, and I think most of us veterans know and understand that,” said Black. “One of the main things we need to do early on in camp is get some young guys ready to play. We lost a bunch of good seniors from last year and replacing them is going to be difficult, but it’s a challenge we’ve got to deal with.
“I think everyone knows we’re very young on defense. When you lose guys like Jake (Owens), Brandon (Geary), Jesse (Valentine), Vince (Black), Shahram (Shafii) and Kyle Miller you’ve lost a lot of talent and some great leaders. The main thing we need to do is make sure the veterans we do have returning on defense buckle down and take advantage of every second of every day to get the team ready for our first game with Clarion. That’s crucial for us.
“We take an awful lot of pride in the way we play defense here at Fairmont. That’s going to be a driving and motivating force for us this year.”
The Falcons open the season Thursday, Aug. 28 on the road against the Golden Eagles at 6 p.m. at Clarion’s Memorial Stadium.
Another crucial factor for FSU is having its offense perform well, especially early in the season to take some pressure off the squad’s young defense.
“This past spring was the first time in my four years here that the offense hands down put it on the defense on a daily basis,” said Black. “As a defensive player I took that as a slap in the face because I know the pride we have here in playing good defense. But you know in another way I kind of sat back and laughed a little because I know its time for our offense to really come into its own and do some good things on the field.
“That makes me feel good. Late last year our offense really started to come together, and I think this may be the season where Fairmont's offense does some really good things. We have a lot of good, young talent on that side of the ball.”