Auburn freshmen eager for first practice

AUBURN — Neiko Thorpe couldn’t sleep.

The Auburn freshman spent Friday night staring at the clock, looking forward to Saturday morning. Saturday was the start of AU’s preseason football practice, the first chance Thorpe would have to take the field as a full-fledged member of the Tigers football team.

“I tossed and turned a lot,” he said. “I was anxious to get out there.”

Thorpe eventually managed a few minutes of sleep. And when Saturday morning finally rolled around, he got a real wakeup call.

He and the rest of his new teammates sweated their way through a grueling three-hour practice in stifling heat and humidity. By the time the session wrapped up, even head coach Tommy Tuberville acknowledged it might have been too much.

“It was probably a little bit too long,” Tuberville said.

For Thorpe and his classmates, the first practice wasn’t just an introduction to the Auburn heat.

It was a chance to compare the intensity of informal, player-run summer workouts to a real practice.

Thorpe had a quick verdict: No comparison.

“There’s a big difference from seeing it on film, knowing what you’ve got to do, then getting out there for the first time and actually doing it,” he said. “I feel more comfortable the more reps I get.”

And that’s just the beginning. The first practice in full pads is scheduled for Wednesday. Thursday marks the start of two-a-days.

It doesn’t get easier from here.

Freshman defensive back D’Antoine Hood, a Central graduate, learned that lesson right away.

“Things are going to come faster,” Hood said. “We’ve got to be physically and mentally sharp. When the going gets tough, you’ve got to push through it. That’s what I learned out here today.”

Defensive tackle Zach Clayton has been in Thorpe and Hood’s shoes. The former Opelika standout hasn’t forgotten his first preseason, in 2006.

“The first one, you don’t really know what to expect, coming into it,” Clayton said. “You have to adjust on the fly.

“After you’ve done it a few times, you get used to it. You know what to expect.”

Auburn returns to practice at the university’s intramural fields at 3:45 p.m. today.