August 7, 2019 at 12:58 p.m.
The party has begun
Hodag gridders instill fundamentals, intensity at first practice under new head coach Kraemer
The party has begun
After a number of trying years, the Hodags hope they have some things to celebrate by season's end.
"I didn't get much sleep last night," Kraemer said. "I rolled over, tossed and turned with excitement. I can't even put it into words how excited I am to get started and to get those first hits in this weekend at the Green and White and hit other colored jerseys next Friday (at the scrimmage)."
The first practice of the Kraemer era didn't look much different than practices in the past, as the players darted between team and individual drills, with a roughly 20-minute chalk talk in the middle of the three-hour session.
Kraemer said the first two weeks of practice, ahead of next Friday's scrimmage at Northland Pines, are about laying down the foundation of what the Hodags will do this season offensively and defensively.
"I want to make sure, offensively, we have our base run plays and the plays that protect them ready for the scrimmage," he said. "Defensively, it's about lining up in base (formation) and being able to do your job in base. That's what we're focusing on this week."
Players did not wear pads, only helmets, during the first practice. That's partly due to WIAA-imposed regulations on contact during the first week of practice. Full-contact drills and scrimmage-type scenarios are not permitted until next week. At the end of practice, Kraemer said he wanted to see the intensity kicked up a notch moving forward.
"We've got to bring it a little more in the coming days," he said. "Like I said in the team huddle, we have some new players out today who were not at camp. We have some new coaches stepping in and helping us in new roles. We're all feeling it out at this point, but we need to bring the juice tomorrow. That's the goal, to be more intense tomorrow as we build on what we did today."
The team will continue to hold three-hour practices in late afternoons through the month of August. Saturday will be the team's Green and White practice, part of Hodag Football Green & White Day (see sidebar p. 14 & at left).
The Hodags travel to Northland Pines for a four-team scrimmage that includes Lakeland and Northern Elite (Niagara/Goodman-Pembine) next Friday and opens the season at Prescott Aug. 23.
Some other notes from Tuesday's practice:
The 'I' has it
After working primarily out of a shotgun spread look the past five years, the Hodag offense is getting back to a more balanced look under Kraemer with a base package that has the quarterback routinely under center for the first time since 2013.
Kraemer, who was the Hodags' offensive coordinator the past two seasons, introduced an I formation package that was used sporadically. Now, it will be the norm.
"We're under center, which is different. It's a pro style, but the schemes are very similar to what we've been running," he said. "We've added a second back to the backfield this week to give us a little extra blocking umpf. "We're getting guys in the backfield working a couple of different positions - a tailback position and more of an H back, kind of a lead back like you'd see on Sunday in an I formation. To build off that, we're moving that H back and moving him into positions where we can get him out into route concepts and different things."
Lamers active at practice
Junior Quinn Lamers, who started at quarterback the final week of last year for a turnover-prone Brock Lieder, was virtually a full participant at Tuesday's practice, despite being only a couple of weeks removed from reinjuring a right thumb that was broken when he was hit by a pitch playing baseball for the Hodags in April.
"He's 'non-contact.' So for us Quinn is a quarterback and he should not be contacted in any way during camp until our scrimmage or even into Prescott," Kraemer said. "He's good there. But you tell Quinn, 'non-contact' and that's at his discretion."
Lamers, who wore a protective wrap on his thumb, also played defensively at cornerback and intercepted a pass thrown by senior Nathan Kempf during one of the team sessions. Kempf and Lamers split the reps at quarterback Tuesday.
"Nathan's worked his tail off all summer and it's a good competition to have. We're going to continue to evaluate every single week. I told those guys, they've got to be best buddies and working together regardless of who wins that job ... I see a competition, but I also see a brotherhood forming there.
The third player in the mix for the position during team camp, senior Peyton Erikson, split reps at running back with returning two-time 1,100-yard rusher Drake Martin and Walker Hartman.
Building a culture
While the team talked defense during its mid-practice classroom session Tuesday, Kraemer said the last half of the talk was about building leadership from within for a program looking for its first playoff berth since 2012 and first winning season since 1994.
"That's something I want to continue to bring to this program - senior leadership, what the expectation is," Kraemer said. "At the beginning of the year I met with all the players, asked them what their goals are and how we reach them. It starts with our leadership, the culture that we build and the expectations we hold ourselves to. That will lead to the results that we want."
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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