Younger Owls open preseason
Kennesaw State football is back underway as the Owls began fall camp Friday at the Perch.
The Owls, coming off an 11-2 season and run to the quarterfinals of the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs, have a lot to be excited about before their season-opening home game Aug. 31 against Point.
Coach Brian Bohannon said it felt good to get his players back on the field.
“It’s good to be back out practicing, for sure,” Bohannon said. “We’ve got a lot of new faces in a lot of new spots. I think there’s a lot of things we can learn from today, so I hope to see a big improvement from Day 1 to Day 2.”
On Day 1, players practiced with an attitude and, in some cases, would challenge the man across from them.
Bohannon preached attention to detail to his young team. Though he lost many of his top players on offense, Bohannon said it would not change the Owls’ approach to growing the youth.
“We are just really young in so many areas,” Bohannon said. “Obviously, everyone talks about the starters you lost on offense, but we are young on defense, too. With youth comes some challenges and opportunities in practice.”
At the end of practice, Bohannon told the players to take attention to detail in meetings and in practices and warned them that “fatigue will make cowards of us all.” He wants the players to go through both and said it takes experience to become second nature to it.
Beyond the changes to the roster, changes also abound on Bohannon’s staff, with the introduction of defensive coordinator Blake Harrell and new defensive assistants Danny Verpaele, Rico Zackery and Darius Safford.
Despite going through the most extensive coaching turnover of his time as coach, Bohannon said he could see how well the new coaches have meshed with the players.
“I think it’s been positive,” he said. “Defensively, we have four new coaches that were here this spring. I haven’t seen any setbacks in any shape, form or fashion.”
After another practice Saturday, Kennesaw State will move into thrice-weekly practices beginning Monday, then will move into its normal in-season schedule as classes begin Aug. 19.