Weather shuffles Southern practice

Out on the practice fields at Southern University, where the football team has spent most of its afternoons for the past week, players are not permitted to place their hands on their hips. Or, for that matter, on top of their heads. As the new coaching staff dutifully (and sometimes loudly) reminds them, those movements convey a message to the opponent. “You keep doing that,” strength and conditioning coach Thomas Hall said, “you’re telling them you’re tired.”

One other thing: Even with above-average temperatures and triple-digit heat indexes, players cannot talk about the weather. Which made Monday afternoon awfully awkward. Coaches and players hit the field just after 3 p.m. Monday, gearing up for what was supposed to be SU’s first practice in full pads this preseason. At the time, the temperature was 96 degrees with a heat index of 109, making it the second-hottest day of preseason camp thus far. Of course, conditions didn’t stay that way for long.

READ MORE, CLICK TITLE.