Staring out at MSU's practice field with bloodshot eyes, panting and swatting flies from his sweaty head, junior defensive tackle Brandon McKinney survived the Spartans' first full day of football practice Wednesday under new head coach John L. Smith.
McKinney and his teammates quickly realized practice wouldn't be the same as last year.
"There's some big differences this year," McKinney said.
One of those changes is Smith's addition of conditioning midway through practice. Smith wants players to work on concentrating when they are "dog tired." So halfway through MSU's first practice of the 2003 season, they ran - and then had to recuperate and learn how to play tired.
"It was a good first day," Smith said. "Well, the first half of the first day. We still have to learn how to practice in the second half of practice. We're still learning and we're going to get better."
Smith said there were too many mental mistakes in the latter part of practice.
"Coach wants us to be mentally sharp," senior guard and co-captain Paul Harker said. "He expects 110 percent out of us."
Harker said it was the coaches' intentions to tire out the players in order to prepare them for late-game situations - which needed improvement from last season.
Weariness from practicing hard didn't prevent the players from thinking wishfully of the year to come, though they knew they'd have to work.
"Everybody's eager, we've got a new big-play offense," junior tight end Jason Randall said. "It felt good to get out and practice, but some things were a little rough. The new running midway through was pretty tough and we got tired.
"The quarterbacks were a little rusty. They threw one or two balls behind me, but other than that they played pretty good."
McKinney also said the attitude had changed and improved from last year's practices at the end of the season.
"Last year, times just got hard," McKinney said. "Guys are out there encouraging each other."
McKinney is looking to build on the positive attitude he witnessed in practice, saying the team will accomplish big things.
"I expect to win the Big Ten," McKinney said. "Maybe we can go undefeated, go to the Rose Bowl and win a national championship. We won't settle for mediocrity and going 6-6."
Before the Spartans can think about going undefeated, they'll have to continue to prepare for many late-season contests. The final four games of the season include a trip to defending national champions No. 2 Ohio State and three nationally ranked teams: No. 7 Michigan, No. 20 Wisconsin and No. 25 Penn State, according to the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll.
"A lot of people are expecting nothing from us," McKinney said. "We're going to surprise 75,000 people - it's going to be a show."
Jonathan Malavolti can be reached at malavol2@msu.edu.
