Hump Day at Jimenez

Well, it feels much like a bye week during the season. A lot of hard work by the players, coaches, trainers, video staff, strength coaches, and the managers, yet, there is no game this Saturday.

We are getting closer and closer to the first game of the season against Central Michigan. The excitement increases each day we show up at McKale Center.

The players and managers alike have a few days of school and classes behind them, and it is starting to feel like the season grind we endure each season.

As you can see by the pictures, we have changed the field arrangements at Jiminez Practice Facility. We have one large field that runs parallel to the game field at Arizona Stadium. Those of you who have seen our practice field in the past may notice the difference. It has seemed a little weird for everyone I think, it will just have to take some getting use to.

One thing though has not changed, and that is the daily drills we run each day at football practice. As you can see in the pictures, the managers do the same routine they do each day before. Even the new managers are already feeling comfortable with their roles with their coach and position.

Earlier in the morning, Tim, Benny and myself went over some season long duties for the managers. One of their major duties is packing trunks for each game. This is an AWESOME responsibility and we feel very comfortable with the managers doing this job. Trust me, we do not just draw names out of a hat. We obviously choose seasoned veterans that we know can be trusted with the very important trunks, such as uniforms or coaches game clothes. Once again, we are very fortunate to have such high character kids in our program.

We also decided on which four managers will be ball boys during games. Most of the managers really enjoy this job because they feel like they are part of each play of the game, so we let them sign up if they were interested. About half of the managers signed up, and this morning we chose the four. They are: Robert Lloyd and Mike Barnett on the UofA sideline; and Jeff Gallego and Jordan Bates on the visitors. These guys are considered "officials" of the game and this job is very important. Because these guys signed up and requested this job, this is an honor for them. Congratulations to them.

Enjoy a few pictures from earlier practice today: