University of Houston Athletics
Double Days Continue As Fall Camp Heats Ups
8/17/2004 12:00:00 AM | Football
Aug. 17, 2004
HOUSTON, Texas - As the uncharacteristic August "cool" wave winds down, the heat in the environment and on the field was turned up today as the Houston Cougars completed the second day of two-a-days on the UH Practice Fields. With the temperature creeping back into the low 90s after a week of low humidity and numbers in the 80s, the tenacity of the Cougar practice increased as the team battled for over two hours in the afternoon after an early morning workout indoors. UH head coach Art Briles sees his team coming to a fork in the road in many situations, but he has confidence the squad will take the right path. "We're starting to be able to tell that it is two-a-days," said Briles. "Tempers are starting to show up a little bit, so it was like I told them, when things go bad, you can do one of two things: You can regress and say that things aren't working for me. I'm going to gripe. I'm going to complain. It's not my fault. "Or, you can work harder to make yourself better and the consequence is you make the people around you better. What we are looking for are the guys who fight through the bad things and make them good again." With several starters returning from last year's squad as well as many key backups, the battles for the other valuable spots also are heating up. Even though he didn't name specific battles, Briles knows these next three weeks will build the foundation of his 2004 team. "There are battles everywhere," added Briles. "We're going to play a lot of guys, and as the season goes along, we'll evaluate how they play. We've got a pretty good starting point about who were going to throw on the field and play throughout a game, but it won't be 11 on offense and 11 on defense. It'll be more like 18 on defense and 21 on offense, so we'll play a lot of people. "It is their job to contribute when they get the chance." With less than a week before the start of the Fall Semester classes, the Cougars will continue two-a-days on Wednesday with a workout in the morning and practice in the afternoon. --- www.UHcougars.com ---
