Quick background: I’m a first-year college offensive lineman at a D3 school. Here’s how I got there: https://fanspo.com/nfl/s/college_football/p/i2OeeRdRS4xFaa/never-give-up-on-your-dream-kawns-college-football-experience-1

Ok, so now that I’m actually here, what is camp season like?

The best way to describe it is Groundhog Day. During camp, you’re going to have no idea what day it is, because every day will look the same. From 6:30am wake up to 11pm lights out, you’re going to be playing, learning, or reviewing football, six days a week until orientation starts.

If that sounds like a lot, that’s because it is. A three-hour practice is nothing like the high school “three hour practice” which includes your weight lifting period and team meetings. You’re on the field for three hours, losing enough weight in sweat that the NCAA makes you weigh in and out of practice to make sure you aren’t getting dehydrated. You’ll have lifts and/or “field review” in the part of the day when you don’t have practice, plus several meetings a day, and in your little downtime, you are expected to be reviewing practice film and learning the playbook.

If you’re gonna make it through camp with any success you have to LOVE the game of football. You get a week and a half of nothing but football, and it’s going to be the hardest week and a half of your life. It has to be worth it to you to endure those hard times to play the game you love. If you don’t LOVE the game you’re going to burn out, and your performance is going to take a hit for it.

But the good part is, all that practice is going to make you so much better. My pass blocking specifically has gotten much better because I’ve gotten so many reps to improve my technique. I’ve gotten stronger and more mobile, with all the time I’ve spent on the field and in the weight room. You get to compete every day, and every rep is in your hands to do your job, which forces you to learn to be good at your job, quick.

One last tip: work out harder than you think you have to over the summer. I worked a highly physical job and did the occasional lift, but even as a relatively fast offensive lineman, I nearly failed the conditioning test because I didn’t do more than a couple sprint workouts in the summer. The things that were considered extra in high school become the bare minimum in college, and you have to treat your summer as such. If I failed the conditioning test, I would’ve had a 6:15am workout every day for all of camp, and I just narrowly escaped that as a “fast lineman” in high school. Don’t rest on what you think you are good at, work on everything, because I promise it’s all going to need work in college.

Thanks for reading! If you have any questions about the camp experience, let me know and I’ll be happy to answer them (apart from which school I go to; that could easily dox me). Looking forward to hearing from you all