BLANKENSHIP ERA BEGINGS AT FAYETTEVILLE

FAYETTEVILLE -- Fayetteville hit the field for the first day of fall football practice Monday morning at Harmon Stadium with more than 100 varsity players. New coach Bill Blankenship said he was pleased with the enthusiasm shown by his players in the opening workouts, but admitted this wasn't the best first practice of his career. "I've had better, but I've had worse," he said. "I think this is a group that knows how to do things, but a lot of our issue right now is they don't know how I like to do things. "There's just a learning curve and that's going to be alright. Even with the staff, there's things we're going to go back and smooth over and make sure we communicate and it will be a better practice (Tuesday)." The schemes used by Fayetteville during offensive drills Monday look similar to what the team ran prior to Blankenship's arrival. Blankenship, who replaced former coach Daryl Patton this spring, said new wrinkles of his own system are on the way. "We didn't do anything during 7-on-7. We just let them do what they've done," said Blankenship, the former coach at Tulsa. "Now we have a little more time, and we're going to install a different skeleton. "I don't think what it looks like will be that much different, but the way we built it is different. Two years ago they didn't play with much of a tight end here, and last year they did have the tight end. So we're going to build it where we have those guys in the offense. That doesn't mean the first game we're going to come out and look the same, but we will have it in the system." Fayetteville will continue practicing this week from 7 to 11 a.m. When coaches and teachers return to school inservice next week practices, will switch to afternoons beginning next Wednesday. -- Vernon Tarver • @NWAVernon

BLANKENSHIP ERA BEGINGS AT FAYETTEVILLE

Photo Credit: Fayetteville Athletics

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