Lions' Hutchinson earning praise from teammates, coaches

With football season just around the corner teams are getting ready for the new changes and what should be an interesting season with teams playing old rivalries and picking up some new teams. Kane looks to fill a few big holes on offense and defense but will be returning several players on both sides of the ball with experience. Still uncertain on the quarterback situation the Wolves hope to be able to use their skilled players and make it difficult for teams to defend. We did lose some talented players, but, with the players we have returning this could be an exciting year. We have 8 returning starters on offense and 9 on defense so we will be looking to that experience to keep us in games.

When asked about the new changes Head

ALLEN PARK, Mich. (AP) — Detroit Lions rookie Aidan Hutchinson has been getting his work done on the field and quietly has been handling his business off it.

Coming into training camp as the team's second overall pick in the draft, it would have been easy for Hutchinson to assume he'd be given respect immediately from his teammates, but he'd rather earn it.

“That's always been the mindset for me really, in every aspect, high school, college,” Hutchinson said. “When I'm young and you've got these guys that have been there for a while, I respect that and I want them to respect me. You earn it out on the practice field and your rookie duties.”

That kind of attitude is not always a given with young players, especially ones drafted so highly. But coach Dan Campbell said that kind of attitude is “exactly what you want in a rookie.”

“He's very selfaware, he is,” Campbell said. “He's not coming in here being loud and talking a bunch of trash or doing anything like that, he knows he's got to earn his right.”

Hutchinson is already starting to win over his teammates

Coach Todd Silfies said, “Change is a part of life. I miss the tradition and several other details from the Allegheny Mountain League. However, I feel the D9 league did a really nice job with the scheduling this year as we have a healthy mix of old rivalries along with new and exciting match-ups.” We have a solid group of returning starters and guys who played valuable snaps last year. Ricky Zampogna and Addison Plants who will be seniors have been starters on defense since their freshman year and also served as captains of the team as juniors. We will be looking for them to lead the team again this year and they will be joined by several other talented athletes on both sides of the ball. Time will tell who our best players actually are, however, we hope to take a team first approach in everything we do. with his work ethic. Pro Bowl center Frank Ragnow noted how Hutchinson is “doing everything the right way off the field,” like arriving 30 minutes early to practice.

Fellow defensive end Julian Okwara has noticed that relentless attitude carry over to his play.

“Even when he came in OTAS, you could tell he's a workhorse,” Okwara said. “He goes after it, goes hard every play, so we love him.”

That doesn't mean everything has been easy for Hutchinson. He had his first “welcome to the NFL” moment in Detroit's first fully padded practice after TE T.J. Hockenson knocked him to the ground with a block he did not see coming. It's a necessary learning experience for the former Michigan Allamerican, and a mistake Campbell doesn't expect to see much in the future.

“He'll memory bank that, and I'm telling you, it may happen one more time and I bet that's about it,” Campbell said.

Hutchinson has also made an impression in the meeting room. As part of his rookie initiation, he was asked to sing a song in front of the entire team, and his rendition of Michael Jackson's “Billie Jean” earned rave reviews.

We have a scrimmage with Smethport Saturday, August 20 at 10 a.m. at Smethport. Then we open the season on the road with Brockway Friday, August 6 with game time scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Our first home game will be September 2 when we host Punxsutawney with scheduled start time at 7 p.m.

Schedule

Aug. 26 - At Brockway 7:30 p.m.

Sep. 2 - Home - Punxsutawney - 7 p.m. Sep. 9 - Home - St. Marys - 7 p.m.

Sep. 16 - At Ridgway - 7 p.m.

Sep. 23 - At Union - 7 p.m.

Sep. 30 - Home - Port Allegany - 7 p.m. Homecoming

Oct. 7 - Home - Redbank Valley - 7 p.m. Senior Recognition Oct. 14 - At Keystone 7 p.m.

Oct. 21 - At Smethport - 7 p.m.

Oct. 28 - Home - Bradford - 7 p.m. “He took a big step in respect of his teammates because it was a hell of a performance,” Campbell said.

“Butter,” offensive tackle Penei Sewell said. “He scratched up a little bit at the beginning, but I get it. Jitters. But he killed it. That man killed it.”

Again, it was his preparation that led to the lauded performance.

“I actually found the song just about three days before (Campbell) asked me to do it, so thank the Lord he didn't ask me any earlier than that. I would have been screwed,” Hutchinson said. “I was rehearsing the verses in my head for a couple days, my name was called and I had to step up.”

NOTES: Campbell said WR Quintez Cephus avoided a major injury after being helped off the field Monday. “I think he'll be OK,” Campbell said. “It was much more optimistic once we got him in, got an image. Looks like he'll be down for — we feel like — a short period of time.” ... The Lions signed former USFL WR Maurice Alexander on Wednesday and waived rookie RB Greg Bell, who suffered a back/hip injury on the second day of training camp.

Bryant Young straddled the classic football divide between discipline and ferocity more adeptly than just about any player of his generation.

For every minute of a 14-year NFL career spent entirely with the San Francisco 49ers, Young was a model teammate and a softspoken leader who selflessly made everybody around him better.

And for 60 minutes on most autumn Sundays, Young was one of the most intimidating, vicious defensive linemen his teammates and opponents had ever seen.

Young doesn't see that dichotomy as a contradiction. In fact, he loved the chance to get a little crazy while being a measured, mature man in every other area of his rich life.

“Football is a very chaotic, violent, physical sport,” Young said with a smile. “It's controlled chaos. You don't get better and you don't excel in the game by being this passive, nice individual."

Yet that's exactly what Young did as one of the most inspirational players and one of the genuinely nice guys of his NFL era.

In addition to his production and resilience at one of the sport's most brutal positions, Young's ability to inspire — both through his play and through his response to unimaginable setbacks on and off the field — finally earned him admission to the Pro Football Hall of Fame this summer, nearly 15 years after his last game.

Typically, Young felt a responsibility when he learned he'll finally get a gold jacket.

“I want to make sure that I do that well and handle it with care,” Young said. “I want do a great job representing all the members of the brotherhood.”