Pack football reports to camp

First practice to take place at 12:01 a.m. Saturday morning 

PUEBLO, Colo. - Though the first on-field activity can't take place until 12:01 a.m. Saturday morning, the CSU-Pueblo football team reported for camp Friday.

Over 100 new and returning CSU-Pueblo football players took part in a massive orientation Friday, in which team members were issued equipment, practice plans and were provided information about athletic training, compliance and media operations.

The exercise is the first full team function of the 2010 Fall Camp, and a requirement before the Pack's "Midnight Madness," an annual tradition in which players undergo aggressive conditioning drills under the moonlight.  The NCAA allows the first on-field football practice to take place on Saturday, August 7, and many teams, like the ThunderWolves, don't waste any time getting on the field.

Routinely, there's always at least one player that can't take the stress of the first conditioning test, and drops off the team.  In year three of the ThunderWolves' program, the midnight ritual is hardly a surprise, and coach John Wristen is counting on each player to make it through the rough first night.

"It's a tradition here," Wristen said.  "We've been doing it every year [since 2008] and the players expect it.  It's a rite of passage and it helps bring the team closer together."

Also a part of the first day of reporting for the Pack football team was the annual CSU-Pueblo Football Media Day, in which reporters from across the area came to get the inside scoop on ThunderWolves football.