Aug. 10, 2010

MEMPHIS, TENN. -

Photo Gallery For Day Two

Day two of football camp had the Tigers moving from one location to the other with a storm that popped up around 4:45 p.m.

The squad started the day out on the grass practice fields and were working on special teams action when a lightning strike in close proximity of the Murphy Athletic Complex forced the team into the locker room. Team officials cleared the field and the Tigers waited about 25 minutes in the locker room while lightning continued to strike and rain fell briefly. After the wait, Coach Larry Porter brought his squad into the turf room.

While inside the turf room, the offense and defense worked team drills together for about 35 minutes. Once the weather cleared, the Tigers went back outside, but utilized the turf field for the second half of practice. Once outside, the squad worked out for about another hour.

"The weather may have disrupted our practice, but it did not disrupt our spirit," said Porter. "I thought the guys came inside and handled it very well. We were able to get a number of situations accomplished inside. Once it cleared, we went back outside and finished strong. I thought this was a tough day. We did some things to stress them a little bit and they responded."

When asked what progress was made from day one to day two, Porter commented that he felt the quarterbacks saw the blitz better today.

The Tigers were in helmets and shorts today, but will add shoulder pads for Wednesday's practice.

"We are installing every single day this week and we are throwing as much as we can at them," said Porter in reference to what he wants to get out of his squad this week. "Mentally, we want them to grow. We also want them to grow out there on the field as far as execution. That will allow us to create some continuity and some rhythm on the defensive side as well as the offensive side."

"Mentally I think we are ahead of schedule," added Porter. "I like the way they are approaching practice mentally. The guys are focused and you can look in their eyes and tell they are hungry for football. That aspect of it is coming along as planned. I want toughness to be a trademark of this football team. We want to encourage toughness and to create toughness in terms of certain drills that we run. That has to be a dominant trademark of the Memphis brand."

Check below for player interviews with quarterback Cannon Smith, offensive lineman Ronald Leary and defensive lineman Frank Trotter as well as a post-practice interview with Porter.