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Early Wolves get the worm: West using mornings to hit the field, video room
BY Kevin Hageland, khageland@starlocalnews.com
In the waning days of the summer, most high school kids are still asleep at 7 a.m.
Plano West football players, however, are making their way out to the field for fall practices, which began Monday.
"What kid doesn't love summer," said Jake Wodka, West senior linebacker. "I had a great summer and plenty of fun, but now I'm ready to put the pads on."
Though practices actually begin at 7:30 a.m., many players make their way to the field earlier to stretch. From there, a 75-minute practice will commence with players splitting off with their position coaches.
"We work on a lot of footwork stuff, especially with the three-step drop," said Travis Korry, West senior quarterback. "Then we'll go through drills like Quickfire and Fastball Release before going back to 7-on-7, which helps further the chemistry with the receivers."
Defensive players have their own tasks during this time.
"We will go with our position coaches and work on position-specific drills," Wodka said. "For the linebackers, we will focus on reads, steps and coverages while the [defensive backs] break off into 1-on-1 drills."
The team will frequently converge from there for scout team scrimmage work. The primary scout team focus this past week has been Flower Mound Marcus, which West hosts Aug. 31 at Clark Stadium to begin the season. The Wolves will focus on Highland Park, their scrimmage opponent, in the upcoming week.
This portion of practice is where progress, or lack thereof, is apparent.
"You can always tell how well a practice is going based on how much you have to repeat things or go back and correct mistakes," said Mike Hughes, West head coach. "Obviously if you don't have to do those things and can keep moving forward, then you are having a good practice."
Next up is a series of run blocking drills, one of which is called Inside Hole.
"You have the five linemen, the running back and the quarterback going up against the interior defense," Korry said.
Following a 20 minute break, players return to the field, usually for another hour.
That time is frequently spent on the outside fields, but a rash of storms earlier in the week forced the Wolves into the indoor facility for a spell.
"We got some good reps done inside," Hughes said, "but there are just some things you need to be outside for, like special teams, 7-on-7 and the 1-on-1 work with the DBs."
In addition to adjustments for the weather, some teams have had to adjust their practice routines due to the new UIL regulations, but West is following largely the same schedule as in 2011.
"This is what we implemented last year," Hughes said. "We call them two-a-stays."
West went a step further to ensure player safety by bringing in a nutritionist during the summer.
"Obviously we tell them to stay hydrated during practice," Hughes said. "But we also wanted to bring someone in to give them a better idea of why what you eat, what you drink and how much rest you get is so important."
Once practice is done on the field, the players stay on campus until about noon for a mix of weightlifting and film study. The latter of those endeavors was noted as a valuable tool by multiple players.
"I didn't realize how important film was until last year," Wodka said. "Not only do you see what other teams do, you can also look at what you did wrong and how to fix it."
Korry concurred.
"The most valuable aspect is seeing how the defenses react to every play, regardless of if it is a run or pass," he said. "You can look at the DBs and how they adjust on certain plays and also watch the tendencies of the linebackers to see if they are over-pursuing or laying back."
While communication is key on the field, film study is a time for players to learn, not talk.
"The players are all sitting with their position coaches," Hughes said. "The only ones making comments are the coaches and if a player does say something it should only be, "we'll get it done coach," or something like that."
That edict is part of the overarching West practice philosophy.
"We always preach reps on the field, video in the classroom and talking on your breaks," Hughes said.
Most of the talk during breaks Thursday surrounded Friday's practice, the first in which West could put on the pads.
"I think everything progresses through the week," Wodka said. "The intensity has been building and everyone seems pretty excited about Friday's practice."
Count Korry among that group.
"Monday was big for us, especially since we started faster than I thought we would," he said. "Things have continued to go well since then and we have been building up to Friday, which [was] really the start of the season."
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