WESTMINSTER, Md. — Let the redemption story for the McDaniel College football team begin.
Wednesday morning, the Green Terror continued their first week of spring practice, and despite only going 1-9 a season ago, the team believes this season will be different.
"The vibes this year is a lot of excitement," says senior offensive lineman Camden Groft.
"I really enjoyed the team this year. I feel like we have a strong team and we can really go out there and do something," says senior safety Malachi Murphy.
"It was a long winter. You're so busy recruiting, you can't spend as much time with the guys. As soon as the first spring practice comes, you're just excited to be out here," says head coach Skyler Fultz.
It's the second season under the helm for Fultz. The first season was rough, but he spent it learning his guys.
"I didn't have a chance to get to know them for three, four years like previously, so I wanted to get to know them, what makes them tick, what's gonna drive them to be better," says Fultz.
He'll rely on his seniors for leadership, like Groft who says he lost 35 pounds after getting sick once last season ended.
Still working to put the weight back on has been challenging but insightful.
"It taught me that you can never get comfortable because I felt like after this past year, I finally found my confidence and got comfortable and it kind of knocked me back down where I would have to build myself back up again. Now, I feel like I'm on track to be even better than I was last year and stronger than I was last year," says Groft.
Another voice for the team is Murphy, a fifth-year senior who dealt with a season ending injury before - but has since rebuilt his confidence.
"We can go out there and do anything we put our minds too. There really is no ceiling. I really feel like if we really go out there and ball hard all four quarters, we can go out there and beat any team in the conference," says Murphy.
Fultz says the adversity his players go through are opportunities for lessons which hopefully translate on the field.
