2018 Media Day Guide

GRAND FORKS, N.D.-- A picture-perfect morning greeted the University of North Dakota football team for its first official practice and the open of fall camp Thursday at Memorial Stadium. The team donned helmets and shorts for the first of more than two dozen practices leading up to the Aug. 30 opener against Mississippi Valley State. 

"Day one is always a lot of fun, because everyone is excited to be out here. Our challenge is to be excited when we go to the meetings and when we go to the workouts and keep the excitement for day two," UND head coach Bubba Schweigert said. "I love the enthusiasm-- everybody here is fired up and ready to go, but that's kind of the history of day one. The challenge is keeping that excitement and enthusiasm throughout fall camp."

TONE SET
The Fighting Hawks got a full 18 periods in Thursday, including some 11-vs.-11 work near the end. All four quarterbacks took snaps and had standout moments. Stealing the show, however, was the introduction of a yet-to-be-named trash can that housed any turnovers created on defense. Jordan Canady slam-dunked an interception he snared in the endzone, racing to the sideline to do so and firing up the squad in the process. It was the brain child of "one of the defensive coaches" and there's no real plan (yet) to roll it out at games. 

NOTES
*A full media contingent was on hand to check out the first practice including: WDAZ, Grand Forks Herald, UND radio, Fighting Hawks Magazine, Midco Sports, among others that just popped in. 
*Midco Sports mic'ed up both Coach Schweigert and offensive coordinator Paul Rudolph for a new web show that will be debuting soon. More on this later. 
*The Midco crew also had a drone on hand to capture some unique footage of pre-practice and a bit of the drills. 
*First practice with pads comes Saturday (half pads) with the first full-padded session on Tuesday. More then on some of the position competitions that will shake out over the next four weeks. 
*Former UND standout Will Ratelle will be helping out on Nate Baukol's strength and conditioning staff this season.