I was extremely pleased after reading C.L. Brown's piece on the Cards' first day of spring practice yesterday. Check it out here, if you haven't already. When he used to be here, I can remember being really alarmed (even in year one) when first hearing about how practices had changed under his direction. Players talked about the intensity level being different from the Petrino years, that the new coaching staff just wasn't as high-energy, and didn't have practices mapped out down to the minute, like in previous seasons. Obviously, that reflected quite noticeably on the field, especially in the " overall execution" and "penalty" departments.

Well, things seem to have changed around these parts. Judging from C.L.'s observations on the first day, Coach Strong has mandated that we will return to those fast-paced, high energy practice sessions that made us so successful in the past. You practice fast, you play fast... it sounds oversimplified, but that's the way it is. Players don't want to be coddled, they want to be challenged and motivated, and I'm glad Coach is starting this from day one. I don't know how many wins we'll have this season, but I can almost guarantee we will have a more disciplined and fiery team that will be a lot more fun to watch. I hope those of you that can make it out to practice over the next few weeks get a chance to tell us out-of-towners how the squad looks.

Go Cards.