Gattuso lays into UAlbany squad
ALBANY, N.Y. » Greg Gattuso was not happy as he gathered his team in a large huddle at the end of practice on Thursday afternoon.
Several players had shown up late. Others had been a part of the intra-team in-practice fighting. One player didn’t give him proper eye contact.
“You’ve got to learn to fight for jobs,” he said, before his tone progressively got more hostile.
He lit into the team about needing to be ready for Old Dominion in less than a month — reminding the UAlbany players that they were in a bowl game last year.
Gattuso, who normally speaks to the media after practices, did not on Thursday. He was requested.
“Especially when the fights break out, he doesn’t want that,” senior tight end Anthony said. “We’re competing out there, it’s the heat. Then it’s the competition...We got a lot of young guys. It’s a maturity thing, we’ve got to mature.”
Albany is ranked No. 20 in the FCS preseason poll, and finished 7-4 last season – likely one win short of making to the playoffs. It was a big rebound season for the Great Danes, who were 3-8 in 2015.
UA still doesn’t have a set starting quarterback – there’s a battle between Will Brunson and Neven Sussman, neither of whom were overwhelmingly good in split duty last season.
Albany will rely mostly on its star running back, Elijah Ibitokun-Hanks, who is coming off a torn ACL in a late-season game against Stony Brook last season. By all accounts, his recovery was quicker than expected, and he’s put on an additional 15 pounds of muscle.
Ibitokun-Hanks said he sacrificed traveling home to stick to a strict rehabilitation schedule. He’s going to be the focal point of a team that clearly still has to get its act together if it’s going to be as good as predicted.
“Us fighting, that’s just competing,” IbitokunHanks said. “We take this real seriously. This thing is definitely big on competing and communicating. That shows right there...Coming late, we do have to fix up on that. That’s just mental stuff that we have to work on. That’s the difference between UAlbany finishes up practice on Thursday, and coach Greg Gattuso was not happy. going to the playoffs by one game or not making it by one game.”
Tough pep talks come with the territory of any training camp. It’s a long month, no games, just practice. Three hours a day, almost every day of the week. But Thursday’s message seemed like a wake-up call. It was only the fourth day of practice, and just the second with pads on, but it was time for Gattuso to see a change.
He wanted tangible excuses for why players were late. He wanted them to know jobs were on the line. It seems the message was heard.
“We’ve got to respond,” Ibitokun-Hanks said. “No matter what’s said, we’ve got to respond as a team, as a D and as an offense. And compete each and every day.”