TENNERTON – Buckhannon-Upshur head football coach Zach Davis welcomed just short of 50 players to the first day of fall camp Monday evening at Freal “Red” Crites Memorial Stadium.
“We have between 45 and 50 on the roster right now,” stated Davis. “We had a few players not here on the first day, but I think we will be close to that number when everything settles in.”
Davis said the number of players out this fall will suffice.
“Someone once told me a long time ago that football isn’t war,” said Davis. “You only get to play with 11. It’s not like if I have 80 players on the roster I can play with 25 on the field. You want to have as many kids as possible but I think we have the right guys here and guys that want to work.”
The first day of practice on Monday was cut short by lightning, but Davis said they were able to get almost everything they wanted on opening day.
“We missed about three periods of practice, but we worked hard and got almost everything in,” noted Davis.
Davis said he liked the energy he witnessed from his team on day one.
“We were rocking and rolling out there for day one,” remarked Davis. “Our guys like to practice and get after it. They will really be wanting to get after it on Wednesday when we put on our shoulder pads for the first time.”
Davis said day one was used for remembering what was learned over the summer months.
“I thought we retained a lot of what we taught them over the summer,” said Davis. “Our execution needs to be better but it is only day one.”
Davis said the rest of the first week will be focusing on getting his team in football shape.
“There is getting into shape then there is getting into football shape,” said Davis. “It doesn’t do us any good to be a landmine on a football field. We have to be able to move. We struggled in that area last year.”
This will Davis’ second year as head coach of the football team.
“This year, we can sort of zero in on what we need to focus on,” stated Davis. “Last year, it was more of I didn’t know what I didn’t know. Everything was brand new. This year things have slowed down and we know what we need to focus in on.”
The Bucs will open their season Aug. 26 at Bridgeport.
