Lue Powell | Blogger

We have three weeks and a half until summer training starts. I’m not too excited because the beginning off this week didn’t start off to good.

The cut list was posted up on Monday afternoon. As I searched the list I had come to realize that a lot of my friends did not make it. A lot of them were really talented players. I guess they didn’t quite fit the profile the coaches were looking for. Even though they were cut, they told me that they’re still determined to work hard to better themselves and tryout next year. Although people were cut, that doesn’t mean that the remaining tryout guys are safe. It just means we’ve made it through another cut.

The last cut really made the remaining players really open their eyes and more aware that the coaches are looking for, more than just talent. As the week progressed I began to realize that the absence of my fellow friends who were there with me in the beginning of the tryouts affected how I practiced. And everyone else saw it, too. I told myself to stay focused on getting better and to show progress because if I didn’t I would be cut just as my friends were.

The next day I came out strong and told myself that I do everything I could to make the team. My friend told me just because they didn’t make it that doesn’t give me any reason to slack off. So as the defense went through there one-on-one drills with the offense, every play I would push myself to do better and to get quicker and explode faster. That day we had a good practice but I felt I could do better. Sometimes I think I set goals to high for me to achieve in one day, but I expect myself to achieve those goals in that same day. At the end of practice we got a break and met up with our position coaches. Defensive line coach John Wooten believes we’re still not where we need to be. So the defense takes that into consideration and makes it their goal each day to get better and to get where we need to be and hopefully ahead of where we were suppose to be.