Indians' gift for first practice - good weather

Southeast Missouri State University's Indians were greeted by a pleasant surprise during Wednesday's opening of full-squad practice -- decent weather.

Gone were the sauna-like heat and humidity that permeated the area for the past several weeks. While it still reached a warm 87 degrees, there was also a breeze -- and relatively low humidity -- for both workouts.

"This is awesome," offensive lineman Dan Connolly said. "If it stays like this, it'll be the easiest two-a-days ever."

While it's likely the heat and humidity will return eventually -- this is Missouri, after all -- the forecast for at least the next few days looks comfortable.

"This weather is supposed to be here for a few days. We'll take it," coach Tim Billings said. "Not having all that heat really helps with practice. The kids can concentrate better and learn more things. It makes things more pleasurable for them."

Added a smiling Billings, "It makes things more pleasurable for the coaches, too. We can coach harder without having to worry about a heat stroke or a heart attack."

Billings said he was generally satisfied with the results of practice Wednesday. The Indians worked out for about 1 1/2 hours in the late morning at the Rosengarten Athletic Complex, then again in an early evening practice of a little more than two hours at Houck Stadium.

"Basically, our morning practices are a lot of teaching, learning, execution, those kinds of things. We install our offense and defense and work on the kicking game," Billings said. "At night, we work on what we taught that morning, trying to execute. We come out and try to be sharp.

"I'm pleased. We're just so much further ahead than where we've been the last two years. We're more experienced, and we're so much bigger and stronger."

There was little full-scale hitting Wednesday because the Indians practiced only with helmets and shoulder pads. Under NCAA regulations, Southeast can begin full-pad workouts Saturday and Billings said there will likely be scrimmaging then, although he is not a big fan of all-out scrimmages.

"We don't try to beat on each other too much," he said. "We want our best players healthy for the games. We'll do some live stuff, but we won't overdo it."

The Indians will continue with Wednesday's basic schedule -- practicing at 11 a.m. at Rosengarten and 5 p.m. at Houck -- most days until school starts on Aug. 19.

"Tomorrow we'll go over our mistakes from today and do it all over again," Billings said.

Noteworthy

Veteran offensive lineman West McKee has ended his football career because of lingering back problems. A part-time starter last season, McKee had been slated to be a backup at tackle and center this year.

Billings said Australian punter Andrew Winters, who signed with Southeast, has received his visa that allows him to attend school in the United States. Winters is expected to arrive in Cape Girardeau in about a week.

mmishow@semissourian.com

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