FOXBOROUGH – It may not feel like football season around here as far as buzz for the Patriots, but it’s here whether everyone’s ready or not.

The Patriots officially kicked off training camp on Wednesday with the first practice, which was a 1.5 hour(ish) session that marked the first training camp practice without Bill Belichick running the show in 25 years. Jerod Mayo spoke with the media prior to the start after going through a Peloton session to get a sweat in and said one of the small differences – which was noticeable – would be consistent music throughout practice.

He added guys would still run laps for mistakes, but there was something different in the air that was hard to miss. It was something along the lines of cautious optimism and general excitement mixed together. Players

The family tent was much bigger with bleachers underneath. Still plenty of room for kids to run around and no more field goals rocketing in. The crowd took its time getting in. There’s no longer the mad dash to get a good seat and there was some empty seats throughout the day on the far side of the field. The fan hill was pretty full and there were still plenty of kids clamoring for autographs following the practice. Drake Maye had the most frenzied group of young fans. It was still almost full, but even the ovations for players coming out were as quiet as they’ve been in a handful of years. Maye and Matthew Judon got the biggest cheers.

As far as what took place on the field, Mayo said the players won’t be in pads for the first week, but there were still a significant amount of team periods that took place. Here’s what I jotted down on Day 1…

-Perfect attendance aside from the guys placed on the Physically Unable to Perform list on Tuesday. Davon Godchaux and Judon both participated. Sidy Sow was first out along with guard Michael Jordan and corner Mikey Victor.

-Always good to see legendary Hopedale track coach Joe Drugan at camp. He told me this was his 32nd year helping out with security on the field during every practice open to fans.

-RKK rolled in at about it 11:15 after stretching and the start of indy periods, stuck around for the majority of the practice.

-Ja’Lynn Polk, Pop Douglas, KJ Osborn, Marcus Jones (I mean, it’s his job if he’s healthy, right?), Jalen Reagor and David Wallis each caught a “punted” ball or two off the juggs machine early. Jacoby Brissett, Bailey Zappe, Maye and Joe Milton (in that order) threw into net targets a bit later on before throwing to receivers.

-Linemen worked run blocking and sleds, special teamers worked on getting around the edge and knocking down soccer balls.

-Kendrick Bourne rolled out in a hoodie to take in practice right around this point, they’ve got to be overly cautious with him given the proven wide receiver depth.

-This indy period lasted like 40, 45 minutes as guys got a lot of reps with their position groups. The team went into 11-on-11 at about quarter of noon.

-Brissett had short completions to Hunter Henry and Polk with a couple short runs for Stevenson during his opportunity. Godchaux also had a would-be sack on a play where Dugger picked off a tipped pass by Jonathan Jones. Maye was next up and had completions to Stevenson and one on a rollout to JuJu Smith-Schuster. He also had a nice scramble up the middle.

-Noon was 7-on-7 time with Brissett starting off again. After taking forever to find an open receiver, he hit Austin Hooper on a 20-ish yard throw. Brissett also hit Tyquan Thornton on a slant and Polk short. Hooper made a great diving catch over the middle too.

-Maye had a couple of completions on dump offs to Kevin Harris and JaMycal Hasty along with a short one to tight end Mitchell Wilcox before the play of the day. Maye lofted a dime down the right sideline where Reagor sped up a bit and hauled it on one-handed, drawing what was easily the loudest roar of the day from the crowd.

“It was just a routine pass concept, I seen the ball and did my best to catch it,” he said.

-Zappe got a few reps here but I made a quick bathroom trip. It was back to 11-on-11 pretty quickly after that around 12:15. Brissett only had a little swing pass and a screen to Reagor. Deatrich Wise had a would-be sack and Stevenson got a couple touches. Maye had a scramble up the middle which actually might have been a designed draw given how easily it appeared to work. He then followed it up with a fumbled snap and an incompletion on a deep shot to Polk and another on a throw over the middle.

-Both QB’s briefly repped a little two-minute at half speed. Mayo sent the guys to the ‘The Hill’ for conditioning at 12:27 to end his first practice as HC of the NEP.

The Pats are back at it again at 11:00 on Thursday morning and the session is once again open to fans. Gates open at 10:00.