SALEM, Va. – Football season may be more than four months away, however the Roanoke College Maroons are well into their spring practice schedule.
Year one of Roanoke football was one for the record books.
The maroons returned to the gridiron for the first time in 83 years to the tune of a 5-4 season.
For a young program, year two is where the foundation gets tested. Where last season’s lessons either fade or fuel something bigger.
Under the spring sun, with pads popping and energy building, Roanoke isn’t just practicing, they’re proving that year one was only the beginning.
“We really want to take every day and just give our all that day and it’s going to carry over to the next day and the day after that,” said quarterback Kam Hll. “Eventually it’ll lead to bigger results. We just want to take everything, every detail that we take and critique it to the hundredth percent and make sure there’s no mistakes going on before we go over to the next detail or next drill or next play.”
With Frank Beamer disciple Bryan Stinespring at the helm, attention to detail isn’t mandatory - it’s do or die.
“We need to do a great job of outworking people, out-preparing people, out-disciplining people, out-toughing people, outcompeting. That’s really been the culture and then being the best version of ourselves that we could possibly be on and off the field.”
So how does a program in it’s second year lift itself into the national conversation, and win some ballgames? It starts with leadership.
“You’ll see it in practice that you’ll see more people, more vocal, more demanding, holding each other more accountable. That’s the hard thing to do as a leader. To be able to not only do the right things, but how do you approach others about holding others more accountable? To knowing what they’re doing, how’s the right way to do it, what’s the expectation?” said Stinespring.
“This is a team that loves to play football,” added Hill. “There’s nobody on this team that doesn’t really want to be out here. This team really loves to get after it and play football.”
The Maroons hope their love for the game actualizes into wins come September.