Hawks hit the field for first preseason football practice

MONTGOMERY, Ala. – Huntingdon College head football coach Mike Turk and his staff welcomed more than 120 players for the first preseason practice on Thursday.

With a little more than three weeks until the season opener at Louisiana College on Sept. 6, the Hawks put a focus on effort during the first workout in helmets and shorts.

"Probably more than anything right now, we're emphasizing effort level," Turk said. "As is usually the case, practice starts off with a lot of energy and as it wears on, people get tired and the energy level drops. We have to develop the ability to finish practice like we start practice, with the same effort level."

Coming off a 7-3 season and entering its second year of competition in the USA South Athletic Conference, Huntingdon returns 10 starters on offense and defense. A priority for the Hawks is finding the new players who are going to be ready to step in and contribute this season.

"In addition to effort, the other priority is trying to identify as quickly as possible who the young guys are that will have a chance to help our team this fall and getting those guys as many reps as we can to get them ready," Turk said.

One of the Hawks' most experienced units is the secondary, where three starters return from last season. The group includes safety Anthony White and cornerbacks Jeremy Murphy and Brendon Brown.

White, a first-team All-Conference selection last season, was Huntingdon's second-leading tackler in 2013 with 77 tackles and also had an interception, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery. Brown recorded 31 tackles and broke up three passes and Murphy had 29 tackles, an interception, broke up seven passes, blocked two kicks and recovered one fumble.

"In today's game, the way everyone spreads you out and throws the ball around, those guys in the secondary are a big part of the defensive system," Turk said. "To have three really good players back there, who have played a lot of ball for us and helped us win a lot of games, that's a good thing.

"But we have to develop depth. Those three guys can't play the whole game, so we have to find a fourth starter and we have to find five through eight as well."

The Hawks will practice in shorts and helmets again on Friday at 9 a.m. Practice is open to the public.