Dust off the cleats and wash the blue uniforms.

The BYU football team kicked off its fall camp Saturday, Aug. 5, 2006, in preparation for the 2006 season.

"We have been waiting for this all summer," BYU defensive back Justin Robinson said. "You go through the hard times of winter struggling with school. Finally school is out and you know its close in time for Arizona."

Robinson, who was BYU's third leading tackler last season, was at fall camp last season after transferring to BYU from Independence Community College in Kansas. Robinson's teammate wide receiver Michael Reed was also at camp last year and had similar feelings about camp.

"It feels great to be out here running routes and catching balls from John [Beck]," Reed said. "Both sides of the ball did real great today. Everybody was enthusiastic about being out here."

For freshman wide receiver McKay Jacobson, fall camp was a little bit different than his high school football camp.

"College practices are a little bit more organized," Jacobson said. "I was really fortunate in high school to have a really good coach that could have been a college coach. Obviously the preparation of watching film, we do a little bit more of that."

Despite any differences between camps, Jacobson is just glad fall camp is finally here.

"It seems like it took a while to get here," Jacobson said. "It went by fast in the summer. I am just excited...we have a great opportunity to be a really good team this year."

This year, like in years past, four practices will be open to the general public. The first open practice will be on August 14 at 10 a.m. The other three will be on August 16, 18 and 21 at 10 a.m. All of these practices will be held on the football fields north of the Student Athlete Building. This will be the only time the general public will get to see the Cougars in action before its Sept. 2, 2006 game at Arizona.



Copyright Brigham Young University 7 Aug 2006