Aug. 7, 2006

In Their Words: Buck Koalenz
Texas State Ranked No. 18 in TSN Poll
The Sports Network Top 25 Preseason Poll

SAN MARCOS - The Texas State football squad stepped on the practice fields Monday and opened preseason drills with an enthusiastic two-hour workout which focused on teaching. Then again with 30 newcomers, teaching will most likely become a common theme this August.

Despite losing 27 seniors off last year's Southland Conference championship team, Texas State still has 32 returning lettermen that were the crux Monday in helping teach an influx of rookies.

"We have 30 new faces but the great thing was the 60 returning veterans who taught those young guys how to talk loud on defense, how to break on a ball and how to play with a lot of passion," said Texas State third-year coach David Bailiff. "We have been here long enough that the older guys know what the expectations are with this program. They can accelerate the learning curve with our newcomers a lot more than our coaching staff by demanding excellence on the practice field and demanding passion."

Monday's workout marked the first time Texas State had a full squad together on the practice field since early December when the squad advanced to the NCAA Division I-AA national semifinals.

"It was a lot of fun just to get out here and have numbers, take reps and run hard," Bailiff said. "I thought we checked in this season in really good shape. This team did a great job this summer."

Texas State will workout in light gear and helmets again on Tuesday before adding shoulder pads for Wednesday and Thursday's afternoon drills. The squad will don full pads on Friday. Single practices the remainder of the week are set for 5:30 p.m. each evening with the team set for its first series of two-a-day drills on Saturday.

Preseason camp continues through Aug. 22 before classes begin at Texas State on Aug. 23.