"All The Young Dudes" is a '70's song that Mott
the Hoople made a standard on FM radio. At Camp Lobo in Ruidoso,
New Mexico,
the song seemed more than appropriate. The singer in this band,
Coach Bob
Davie, has sung a tune of accountability. Out- discipline,
out-work and out-hit
the opposition are not just words to his tune but a culture and
"brand" that Coach Davie is imposing on this Lobo football
team.
The practice started at 10 am with stretching and warm up. Then
Coach Davie
called out Senior QB BR Holbrook. He was instructed on the fly to
grab a
football line up if as under center and throw a completion
to...Coach
Stubblefield who was defended on the play. It was a 5 yard down
and out and in
with a nice throw and catch!
Coach Davie sometimes starts practice with
something like this just to show the
unpredictability and sudden change of college football. The
message? Be
prepared for anything at any time. Then it was on to business as
usual. UNM had
a spirited 2 hour session with featuring some nice work by "The
Hitmen" to open some holes for Jhurell Pressley a 5' 11" 190 lb.
freshman from Delaware. He showed a nice burst through the hole
and some "escape
ability". David Anaya also showed some nice between the tackles
running as
did walk on Xavier Madrid. Kasey Carrier got his reps but not as
many as he
knows his role well and keeping him healthy is priority numero uno
for O Coordinator
Bob DeBesse. It was hard to say that first team D was going
against first
team O because a lot of guys were getting plugged in with the
"first
team" in order to maximize the repetitions. It is all part of
the
plan to offset depth issues with more Lobo underclassmen that
HAVE to be
ready. The practice was divided between drills and live
scrimmage. Most
of the observers, who were local townsfolk, commented on
the obvious
differences in this camp from former ones.
Jhurrel
Pressley
David Anaya
The unfortunate news of three Lobos breaking
team rules, and, the attendant
consequences handed out by Coach Davie, were also met head on It
comes through
loud and clear. The team will be better for it and at
least two of the
offenders have a shot at reinstatement. "It all depends on them
and how
they react to this." That is what Coach Davie said and
obviously that
is what he means. Words and deeds must match if you want to be a
part of
something special. The rest of the team received this
important message
loud and clear; and they practiced as if nothing had occurred.
Two and a half hours later...the whistle sounded the end of
practice. I
hustled over to my main man "Arch", as in Greg Archuleta,
Assistant
Director of Communications for Lobo Football (and Golf). I
requested some
interviews and then turned on the mic for the post practice press
conference. I
interviewed the youngster Jhurell. Then it was on to
"Hitman" Dillon Farrell, as well as "older" Lobo,
Rod Davis, the 6' 300lb JC transfer nose guard that I want to
see play
like former ATM "wrecking crew" member, Sam Adams, who went
on
to quite an NFL career with the New England Patriots.
I also heard Coach Davie and his message to get through to me. I
was ready to
quit after 3 holes of golf, I was playing that bad. I hunkered
down reaffirmed
my commitment to the game and lo and behold I liked the next 15
holes a lot
more! Thanks Coach! All the young dudes indeed!