Behind the Scenes - Part II

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In a two-part series, GoJacks.com visited with the operations staff, athletic trainers, coaches and players to get a behind the scenes look at the new fall camp. Part two features four coaches, John Stiegelmeier, head coach; Clint Brown, defensive coordinator; Eric Eidsness, associate head coach and offensive coordinator; Daniel Jackson, cornerbacks coach.

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As the summer comes to an end it means two things: schools starting soon and the start of college football fall camp. For the returning players, it's a chance to show the coaches how much they have improved over the summer, and for the freshmen proving they are able to contribute right away. For the coaches, it's a chance to see what the team will look like this year and how well the players improved over the summer.

South Dakota State football team has been steadily rising to the top of the Missouri Valley Football Conference, as they won a share of their first-ever MVFC championship title, hosted their first-ever playoff game and are in the FCS preseason top 5 this season.

Going into fall camp this year was a little different with no two-a-day practices per NCAA rules. There was more time to install schemes, recover, and become one as a team. Also, there was a lot of media hype coming into fall camp as three Jackrabbit seniors have several NFL scouts' attention this season.

Before the summer started, head coach John Stiegelemeier and his staff planned for the new style of fall camp.

"It has given players more time to recover from practice," Stiegelmeier said. "We have more time to have meetings and to get in the training room."

A typical day during fall camp starts out with coaching staff and player meetings, watching film as a staff, installing offenses and defenses and getting a game plan together for practice later that day.

One new thing this year was on days they put pads on for practice, they wouldn't lift and focus on more recovery and then they would lift on days without pads.

"It became simpler," Stiegelemeier said. "Instead of trying to fit two practices in with all the meetings and film was tough at times. Now we have all of our meetings in the mornings throughout the afternoons, and then always have one before practice at 3:30 p.m."

All of the coaches agreed that the best part of fall camp was seeing everyone come back onto campus.

"I look forward to fall camp every year," Clint Brown said. "Getting the guys back on campus and getting ready for the season is one of my favorite parts of fall camp."

Daniel Jackson said, "Seeing the players improve throughout fall camp is what I love most about it."

The staff's expectations for fall camp all differ slightly but all have the same common goal, to get better. Eric Eidsness loves the new rules to fall camp because he has more time to put in schemes.

"It's better this year, I have more time to put stuff in so players can handle it," Eidsness said. "In past fall camps, sometimes it felt like you were cramming all of the plays into a small amount of time. Now we have time to make sure the players are able to play fast and not have to think about the play or the coverage."

All in all, the staff loved the new fall camp. There's more time for the players to recover and teach the players in meetings and practice. The players also love the new fall camp as much as the coaches do. Daniel Callender, a true freshman defensive end from Arizona, went through his first fall camp this season.

"My fall camp was tough, but also I loved it," Callender said. "It was tough being a freshman and having to learn the new defense, but I learned a lot of new things and really feel like I improved since the first day of fall camp. The coaches said to trust the process and that's what I intend on doing this year."

The first game of the season is on Thursday at 7 p.m. against Duquesne at Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium.

-GoJacks.com-