Manager's Blog - Monday Practice

Quarterback Manager Matt Burkhard will give SCPlayBook readers a unique behind the scenes look at the USC Trojan Football Program.

In preparation for Nebraska's artificial turf playing surface, this Monday's practice was held on USC's artificial turf - and for managers, practices on Cromwell Track and Field are always lively for many reasons.

Today we began set-up one hour before practice, our usual time. For starters, we retrieved all of the normal equipment from their storage sheds and lugged it over on two electric carts - a task that turns out being much more fun than it sounds!

For example, the duty of transporting all that equipment to the track includes challenges such as weaving through crowds of students walking between classes - and I mean weaving! With stacks of pads as well as four other people piled on the back, things get interesting...

That aside, one good thing is that we get a bit of variety in our routine. I believe one of the main reasons our team plays in such a consistently successful manner is in the way we practice. Like clockwork, our crew gets the field ready; the team comes out, warms up, stretches, and goes through structured procedure every day.

The same goes for the managers, and each Cromwell practice adds just a little fluctuation to the invariability. In this case it is true what they say - change is good.

Add in the heat from the turf, the assembly of a portable goalpost, and an excited football team, and we had a great practice today. In addition to the energy the team brought today, the managers showed up animated in preparation for the first away game of the season.

In total, six managers will be traveling to Nebraska this Thursday, and in total, six managers are very enthusiastic to be flying out with the football team. Pit Nugulrat, a senior manager, said, "I can't wait to bleed the Scarlet Nation!"

I can only expect the enthusiasm to progress as the week goes on. Thursday is just three days away.