Indiana University Athletics
A Day at Camp: Blake Powers
8/10/2006 12:00:00 AM | Football
Aug. 10, 2006
With the Hoosiers taking part in their fourth practice of the season on Aug. 10, junior quarterback Blake Powers took a few minutes to talk to IUHOOSIERS.com. Here's what a typical day in his life is like as he prepares for the 2006 season.
You have to get up pretty early during camp, but that's the price you pay to be good. There are a lot of people who wish they could be in our shoes and do what we do. You're never going to find me complaining, I feel fortunate to be here every single day.
In morning meetings, we just go over plays, review film, get on the board and do Xs and Os. We go over the proper yardage of the route, what the quarterback is reading. So the receivers know not only what they're supposed to do but what we're thinking as well. And that just helps us all work together and play on the same page.
I feel like the chemistry with the receivers has been there since the middle of spring ball. Last year, we were young, I was a sophomore, four of our five best receivers were freshmen, and we weren't on the same page a lot of the time. There were a lot of mistakes that occurred due to that, but now we're really on the same page.
Every day we meet three or four times per day, reviewing film and making sure there's no mental mistakes. When everyone else meets with their individual coaches, the quarterbacks and receivers meet in the same room. Our chemistry has really been elevated, and we've taken it to another level from spring ball.
Everything's starting to come together now. We've got the majority of our offense installed that we're going to use this season. We're picking up on it really well, the receivers are doing a good job of learning the routes, the line looks pretty good. We're just getting back into the swing of things, and it was good to see some hitting going on today.
I don't mind when it rains during practice because it cools you down. We're probably going to see a rain game this season. You have to learn to play in all weather conditions, so it's a good learning experience.
The intensity picked up a lot today. You have a lot of people out there trying to win a spot offensively and defensively, so guys are ready to prove themselves and show what they've got. Camp is all about proving yourself and proving to the coaches that you're capable of playing at this level and starting for this team. The intensity is going to pick up to another level when the guys are out there playing to earn a spot.
We get out of meetings at about 9:30-10 or so, and then we have a team meeting. We have lights out every night at 10:30 or 11.
