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Old Dominion gets a head start on the 2016-17 season Thursday, with the first of 16 - yes, 16 - practices in preparation for a trip to Spain later this month.
Those practices will be conducted over 10 days - a schedule that is not as grueling as it might appear.
"Some of them won't be all-out physically draining," coach Jeff Jones said. "Some of them will be trying to get the offense in at this point."
Extra practices are prized by coaches. Remember those bowl game-like practices last spring for the Vegas 16? For developing players such as Zoran Talley, Ahmad Caver and Brandan Stith, the extra sessions were especially important. All three will be playing bigger roles this year.
The Monarchs must also blend in five newcomers, and two players who sat out last year as transfers.
I'll be at ODU's first practice and will have more later in the week. The Monarchs leave for Madrid Aug. 16.
Players are finishing up the second session of summer school, and have been engaged in off-season strength and conditioning under new strength coach Eric Potter.
Potter, who was already on the strength and conditioning staff, replaced Alex Parr, who left for a job at Central Florida. The transition has been seamless, Jones said.
"He was around a lot of times when our guys were working with Alex," Jones said. "To describe him as a young star in the making would be accurate. He hasn't been in the business a long time, but he's shown a real affinity, and our guys have really responded to him."
ODU is conducting its youth camp this week, and will host its Elite Camp Saturday. I'll have a list of prospects expected to attend later this week.
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