By Heath A. Smith, Tallahassee DEMOCRAT STAFF WRITER
Strip away all the elaborate offensive and defensive schemes and football usually comes down to one thing: who's more physical.
Florida A&M began Monday's morning practice the old-fashioned way - getting physical.
The offense lined up on one side, the defense on the other and players pounded into each other trying to push one another into submission.
"It's like a sandwich drill," head coach Rubin Carter explained after the morning practice. "It's just two guys going at it. We do that just to set a tone for our practice.
"Our players really get hyped up in that situation. It's a one-on-one situation. It's a challenge. As we say, it's man-to-man. The best man is going to win with good leverage and by being aggressive."
This wasn't about scoring touchdowns, sacking the quarterback or wins and losses. This was about earning the respect of teammates - and bragging rights.
"It's a drill where you are competing one-on-one," said senior left tackle Justin Delancy. "Everybody's intensity is real high. You get after it and it sets a tone for the rest of the day. Everybody's adrenaline gets rushing, the blood starts pumping and you are ready to go."
After trying to pound the living daylights out of each other for roughly 10 minutes, Carter had the team work on red-zone offense and defense.
It was as close to live action as the team has had in preseason camp. The defense looked stout on running plays - a good sign for a team that gave up more than 250 rushing yards a game in 2006 - but the offense seemed to win the battle through the air.
Senior receiver Willie Hayward and freshman Kevin Elliott each out-jumped their man for touchdown catches during the drill.
"I thought that went extremely well," Carter said. "It is one of the things that is critical on both sides of the ball. What you are looking at from both sides is the intensity level shown in the drill.
"There is always going to be a winner and a loser just like there are in games. Someone is going to score and someone is not going to score. We're looking to see a certain intensity level from both sides."
Strip away all the elaborate offensive and defensive schemes and football usually comes down to one thing: who's more physical.
Florida A&M began Monday's morning practice the old-fashioned way - getting physical.
The offense lined up on one side, the defense on the other and players pounded into each other trying to push one another into submission.
"It's like a sandwich drill," head coach Rubin Carter explained after the morning practice. "It's just two guys going at it. We do that just to set a tone for our practice.
"Our players really get hyped up in that situation. It's a one-on-one situation. It's a challenge. As we say, it's man-to-man. The best man is going to win with good leverage and by being aggressive."
This wasn't about scoring touchdowns, sacking the quarterback or wins and losses. This was about earning the respect of teammates - and bragging rights.
"It's a drill where you are competing one-on-one," said senior left tackle Justin Delancy. "Everybody's intensity is real high. You get after it and it sets a tone for the rest of the day. Everybody's adrenaline gets rushing, the blood starts pumping and you are ready to go."
After trying to pound the living daylights out of each other for roughly 10 minutes, Carter had the team work on red-zone offense and defense.
It was as close to live action as the team has had in preseason camp. The defense looked stout on running plays - a good sign for a team that gave up more than 250 rushing yards a game in 2006 - but the offense seemed to win the battle through the air.
Senior receiver Willie Hayward and freshman Kevin Elliott each out-jumped their man for touchdown catches during the drill.
"I thought that went extremely well," Carter said. "It is one of the things that is critical on both sides of the ball. What you are looking at from both sides is the intensity level shown in the drill.
"There is always going to be a winner and a loser just like there are in games. Someone is going to score and someone is not going to score. We're looking to see a certain intensity level from both sides."
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