WORCESTER – The St. Ignatius Indoor Facility on the campus of Holy Cross was full of energy on Saturday morning.

In front of over 125 recruits lined around the field inside the beautiful facility, Holy Cross welcomed those recruits and families with Patriot League trophy photo ops and a true championship program feel during an intense practice.

From the time stretching ended around 10:24 to the time head coach Bob Chesney brought the team up and thanked the officials on hand around 11:40, competition ruled the day. Skirmishes broke out at some points, but were quickly squashed by offensive and defensive teammates reminding guys involved what everyone is really there for. One-on-one periods were full of life and during team periods, the offensive and defensive sidelines sounded like a game in mid-October.

Five things in particular stood out during the lively session…

1. LEADERSHIP – During those said skirmishes, guys immediately stepped in and scolded those that started them. Ultimately, there is competition for jobs so that kind of stuff didn’t bother Chesney, as long as it doesn’t carry over to games in September. If anything, it was good for the hundreds of kids on hand to see what a championship team practices like in March.

“It depends who they are. Some like it, some don’t, right? I think some would rather not do this every single day, but we’re looking for the ones that do want to do this every single day,” he said. “I think it’s important for us to just kind of show who we are as a program and we’re just doing what we do on a normal, every day basis. I then think it’s important to see what (recruits) attract to that and which guys aren’t. I think that’s really the most important thing when it’s said and done.”

“We’re a really tight-knit unit off the field,” said veteran linebacker Jacob Dobbs. “Like, it’s really funny. (Jalen) Coker and (Devin) Haskins will go at it for two hours and that’s so good-on-good and it’s so intense and then we’ll go back to my room and we’re playing PGA Golf (video game) together it’s really like nothing happens. A lot of it out here is just the intensity of football.”

2. EFFICIENCY – No wasted movement from any coach or player for the entire practice. Holy Coss covered red zone, full-field offense, individual positional drill periods, 1-on-1’s (twice in various styles), downing punts inside the 10, field goals, more individual positional drill periods and even simulated TV timeout breaks. The attention to detail is exactly why the Crusaders are pursuing a fifth straight Patriot League championship and all the new national attention isn’t changing anything.

“The thing we started this with is we just want to win a Patriot League championship and we’re going to practice every day like champions, practice hard every day,” Dobbs said when asked about the slow build he’s been a part of to seeing where the program is at now. “We talk about…we got to where we are because we practice and play as hard as possible. That’s going to continue from here until we all leave. I just think that the standard never changes. We had a championship standard when we walked in here. We wanted to win Patriot League championships and obviously, we know it takes a lot to win that. To win five in a row, probably impossible, but we’re going to try and go for the impossible this year and keep the same standard.”

3. OFFENSE GOES AS SLUKA GOES – This kind of goes with out saying, but if Matt Sluka can return to the form he was in last season, the Holy Cross offense will be just fine. The connection with Jalen Coker is still there, and the two hooked up with a few pretty connections in various periods on Saturday. Coker caught a long ball in stride during team offense and “Moss’d” Haskins during 1-on-1’s before being mobbed by his teammates. There’s going to be some competition to take over for Peter Oliver in the backfield, but as long as Sluka and Coker are healthy, this offense can put up points.

“Yeah, me and Jay just kind of communicate without even speaking now,” said Sluka. “When we were younger the communication wasn’t what we expected early on, but it’s at the point now where I don’t have to say much. He knows if I miss him on one it wasn’t on purpose, we’ll get it back…we just keep working on it, keep building it.”

4. SPECIAL TEAMS SHOULD BE BIG PART OF SUCCESS AGAIN – Last season, Holy Cross had one of the best special teams units in the country. Mr. Punt Block/TD (Haskins) is back and despite playing corner, he can also change a game on special teams in an instant. There’s going to be competition for Derek Ng’s old spot and those are some pretty big shoes to fill. The Crusaders had two different kickers attempting field goals on Saturday so that’ll probably be a job up for grabs all the way through training camp. Haskins was downfield several times to down punts inside the 10 during that period and it’s clear that Drew Cannan, Coach Chesney and the entire staff value special teams as much as offense or defense.

“The energy was really good, it was the first full-contact day, people were flying around,” said Haskins. “There were a lot of big hits, but the biggest thing is keeping each other safe. Other than that, the energy was phenomenal, people are playing phenomenal and we’re having a really good spring ball.”

5. COMPETITION IS KEY IN SPRING – Every. Single. Period. There was never a drill or team period that wasn’t raucous with guys cheering each other on or against the opposition. It’s extremely valuable to have guys into it and not just going through the motions when the season still four months away. During an Oklahoma-type drill (but definitely not like the old days, much safer) you would have thought it was UNH inside Fitton Field again because things got so loud. Same thing for receiver-defensive back 1-on-1’s. At the end of a few of the periods, Chesney would yell “this is for the Super Bowl!” on the final rep to get even more energy out of his guys. As good as this team has been, the desire to show that they’re only getting better is evident from the top down.

“It doesn’t change anything we do on a day-to-day basis,” Chesney added when asked if this new found level of success is changing anything in Holy Cross’ offseason approach. “Really though, when you have those kind of down days and once-in-a-while you can sort of allow a team to take a little bit of a break one day, I think that’s just the nature of the beast, you go through ebbs and flows of spring, just like you would in camp. For us here, that’s just what they understand, there’s no days off. When it’s said and done, they have to be out here every day.

“That matters. We’re really paying attention to situational football right now. We’re highlighting those plays when the game was on the line. We’re going back and reviewing those as a team and we’re making sure we under stand…we don’t play games here in the spring. So, the most important thing they understand is that the drill is like regular season practice. Then, our practice is like a game. That’s how they’ve got to think about this whole thing and I really like where we’re at.”