First Inside Drill in Shoulder Pads and Helmets Always an Event

STILLWATER – It is a rite of passage at the start of the football season. I know now the NCAA has caught up with the NFL to really set limits on how physical the preseason fall camp can be. There is a long acclimatization and Oklahoma State won’t wear full pads until Thursday of this coming week. The shoulder pads did come on Sunday, which is normal from years past. It is also the new start to physicality in practice. When the shoulder pads come on teams can go live and do everything but tackle to the ground, and sometimes that happens accidentally.

Inside drill is physical and emotional. Today the offense got off to a good start as five running backs with LD Brown, Dezmon Jackson, Jaylen Warren, Dom Richardson and Zach Middleton were all getting reps. The offensive line did a good job. Both left tackles, Taylor Miterko and newcomer and big man Caleb Etienne, did well. On one of his early reps, Etienne got downfield and put a defender on the ground and things got heated up good.

“Oh very, very, I had a shouting match with Joe Bob (Clements),” running back LD Brown said of his memory from the morning’s inside drill. “It was fun, and it is always good to bang around a little bit. We enjoyed it.”

As Brown spoke, starting right offensive guard Hunter Woodard smiled and laughed.

Bruce Waterfield/OSU Athletics

Dezmon Jackson in Inside drill. 

Worth noting were the Cowboy backs as newcomer Austin Jarrard and redshirt freshman Quinton Stewart had some good blocks on the edge. Braden Cassity and freshman Luke McEndoo both got some time as lead blockers in the backfield and walk-on Colby Blatnik had a huge block on a run that Jackson broke open on.

Now, as almost always happens, the defense rallied. They came back with some feel good moments during the drill.

“I’ve always believed with players that you can be as demanding as you want as long as they know that you care about them,” defensive coordinator Jim Knowles said. “Our guys have been around long enough to know that I care about them. So, yeah, you're right, it is up to me to push in practice, run around and focus on all the little details, you know like, today we got cut back, you know, we're not tackling anybody. You're watching it either OK because maybe the DB ran by the guy, but he left the guy to cut back into the middle of the field. That's a huge mistake, right? We're playing tag, but we got to do it on the right side of the guy. So those are like the details that I have to really be tough on them about. And I think they understand that. We can't let that slip at all."

The first is just that, the first. Inside drill will be a part of practice all season long. It’s an important part of setting the tone for a team determined to be able to run the ball on offense and stop the run on defense.