And we're under way

The players reported yesterday, the first team training table was devoured last night, and the first practice was held today. Things are moving forward in the Rich Rod-era. This is always an exciting time of year for the team. In his book, Bo's Lasting Lessons, Coach Schembechler described in Chapter 7 (Lay Down Your Laws) how he conducted the opening of Fall Camp. Coach Schembechler wrote that his typed outline for the first team meeting of Fall Camp listed 23 categories of expectations with 197 bullet points under those categories. Bo described that when the players walked in, they picked up a thick Michigan football binder with everything they needed to know to be a Wolverine inside. Bo wrote that instead of spoon feeding them the opening speech by printing it out, he had the players write down everything he said so they would remember it. Bo stated that the thrust of all his rules was simple: There is a right way and a wrong way to do everything, and at Michigan Football they were going to do everything the right way. Bo wrote that the first meeting usually took about two hours. He stated in that first meeting, they defined who they were, where they were going, and how they were going to get there-and that's exactly what happened. Hopefully, Coach Rod's initial meeting with the entire 2008 team followed the same guidelines. Go Blue!