Aug. 12, 2005
Coach Guy Morriss' Baylor football team went through its first practice of fall camp Friday afternoon in full pads on the grass practice fields at Floyd Casey Stadium. The Bears drilled for more than two hours in the hot and humid conditions.
"I thought it was a good start," said Morriss of his team's first padded workout. "The enthusiasm was good and I thought the guys worked hard. Now, we have to come back tomorrow and have two more good practices.
"We've had shoulder pads on for two days and we get it after it pretty good, so it wasn't like today was the first day we hit anybody," he added. "But, once we get some polish time in and everyone knows what we're doing, we are going to look a lot better."
Saturday begins a stretch of 12 practices in eight days for the 2005 Bears. Included in that stretch will be four days of double practices, which Morriss believes will toughen his squad for the 2005 season.
"I'm probably the only one out here who likes two-a-days," Morriss said. "We don't have but four (two-a-days), so we are going to try and make the best of it. I think it puts a certain amount of toughness in your team and certainly we could use a little more toughness, we just have to be careful about how much hitting we do so that we don't get too many people hurt.
"We are going to find out what type of team we have," he added. "We are going to go into the fourth quarter tired and beat up, so I want to see how we push through it the next few days. We chose to keep our four (two-a-days) because I think there is great value in practicing twice a day."
Baylor will hold the first of its four two-a-day sessions on Saturday with workouts slated for 9:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. The Bears will practice at 4 p.m. on Sunday before going twice on Monday at 9:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. All practices are open to the public and the media.
Notes:True freshman wide receiver David Gettis (Los Angeles, Calif.) remains in a holding pattern as he awaits a decision on his status from the NCAA Clearinghouse ... No. 1 left tackle Travis Farst (Cedar Park, Texas) reinjured his right knee during Friday's workout and the junior may be sidelined a day or two according to Morriss ... Redshirt freshman wide receiver Thomas White (Plano, Texas) missed his second straight workout with a hamstring injury he sustained during Thursday's practice ... Redshirt freshman Justin Osinde (Arlington, Texas) remained sidelined with a knee strain he sustained on the first day of practice ... Baylor's 2005 schedule is rated as the Big 12's sixth most-challenging and the nation's 41st-toughest according to Phil Steele's 2005 College Football Preview magazine ... Both season and single-game tickets for Baylor's five-game home schedule are on sale through the school's Athletic Ticket Office (1-800-BAYLOR-U) ... Baylor's annual Meet the Bears Day is scheduled for Saturday, Aug. 20, at 1 p.m. at Floyd Casey Stadium.
