Click on to buy at BillCurrieFord.com. Invoice Currie Ford GM Sean Sullivan is prepared that will help you PERSONALLY and offer you Ira Kaufman’s low cost. Simply ask!
BY IRA KAUFMAN
Buc gamers who complain concerning the rigors of coaching camp want to realize some perspective by speaking to Ricky Reynolds.
It was 35 years in the past when Reynolds, a second-round draft select of Washington state, confirmed up at Camp Perkins on the College of Tampa. In his three years in Pullman, Washington, Reynolds was used to working towards in a area the place the typical August excessive is 84, with morning lows within the 50s.
Former Bucs cornerback Ricky Reynolds had 17 interceptions earlier than transferring on to Invoice Parcells’ Patriots.
Ray Perkins, who performed for Bear Bryant in Alabama, was beginning his first season as coach of Tampa Bay. Regardless of the scorching warmth, he labored Buc’s gamers lengthy and exhausting, typically to the purpose of exhaustion.
“It was an enormous shock as a result of all I heard from among the former Washington State gamers was that the NFL is way more relaxed,” says Reynolds. “They advised me coaching camp is okay, plenty of days simply carrying helmets and jerseys. I did not get any of that.
“We had 3 practices a day and we had been on the market killing one another. After we performed 7v7, it grew to become a scrimmage. It was loopy, one thing I used to be positively not ready for. We had been at UT, so let’s discuss amenities. You come out of school and also you suppose you are going to transfer up by going to the NFL, however going to Tampa was a step down.”
You could possibly really feel Reynolds wince over the cellphone as he described a typical day in the summertime of ’87.
“They knock in your door perhaps at 6 am, making an attempt to wake everybody up for an 8-10 apply,” he says. “Dress, go to the eating room and have breakfast. Then go get your ankles wrapped, dress, and attempt to stretch. You undergo the complete pads within the morning, then you definately go in and funky down for a bit, take your pads off, and I believe we exit with simply helmets and shoulder pads for the following apply. We did an hour of largely particular groups.
“Then you definitely go in, take a bathe and go to lunch and perhaps take a nap. The third apply was within the late afternoon. The solar is thrashing down on you and most of that apply was pass-oriented, half-shell apply. It might have been 90 minutes or two hours. There was water out there however positively no shade, no followers to blow on you or a tent to chill you down. Simply bake and test it out.”
Dangerous climate supplied little aid.
“It is practiced within the rain except it is lightning,” he says. “There have been instances once we would go to the basketball gymnasium to take a tour. In the future, Coach Perkins introduced out the stew for us on the basketball court docket. We should have accomplished 40-yard sprints about 40 instances.”
“That is what you name Camp Cupcake, Kyle.”
What about these luxurious lodging?
“We had been in dorms, two to a dorm,” says Reynolds. “The bed room smelled moldy they usually weren’t in excellent situation. I imply perhaps within the fourth 12 months we have not had 3 a day. He backed off a bit.”
These Bucs did not have a lot expertise, so Perkins sought a bonus by striving to be the best-conditioned staff within the NFL.
“That was his aim, to be match and prepared firstly of the season,” says Reynolds. “I admit we had been able to go, however we additionally fell aside, with plenty of guys damage. To be sincere, typically it was simpler to play the sport than to apply. Buc gamers right now do not know how good they’ve it. You actually felt like a zombie after your nap. It was such as you had been sleepwalking, you had been so exhausted. Your physique was simply gone.
The gamers had been annoyed, however Perkins had a manner of stifling dissent.
“I believe there have been a few guys who tried to speak to him,” says Reynolds, “however proper originally he removed plenty of veterans. In the event you got here in complaining, he did not hesitate.”
When Perkins was fired late within the 1990 season, there was hope of a extra lenient coaching camp if interim Richard Williamson landed the everlasting job.
“Everybody thought Coach Williamson would flip issues round, so everybody pushed for him,” says Reynolds. “However he got here in and he seemed like Ray Perkins.”
All these years later, Reynolds has deep respect for his Buc teammates who persevered.
“You begin to consider what you went by means of and what it took to get by means of these practices and get by means of the season,” he says. “I keep in mind being in nice form, enjoying effectively early on after which guys would go down with stretched muscle tissues. I’ll always remember. The boys had been breaking down as a result of their our bodies had been worn out.”
Ira loves that lifetime guarantee on new and used autos!
Get pleasure from Monday’s Ira Kaufman podcast. … …
Ira Kaufman talks Todd Bowles’ distinctive strain, coaching camp craze, altered prep for Lavonte David and extra