For San Jose State University football head coach Mike MacIntyre and defensive line coach Jim Jeffcoat, their days of preseason two and three-a-day practices as players are a distant memory.

"We did three-a-days. We practiced in the morning in full pads, after lunch in helmets for special teams and at night, shoulder pads and helmet practice every day it seemed like forever. There was no 20-hour rule," says MacIntyre about his playing days in the 1980's.

"I don't know how we made it without getting injured. I guess we kind of paced ourselves more than we do now."

POSITIVES OF YEAR-ROUND CONDITIONING

"The reason they were more common in my day was conditioning. You didn't have year-round conditioning. Now you do. That doesn't make it a necessity to have two-a-days," says Jeffcoat, an All-American defensive lineman at Arizona State in the early 1980's.

"Kids come in better shape, that means less injuries. And, they're getting sharp with our practices. They don't need the two-a-day practices."

The Spartans have three two-a-day practices this preseason beginning on Saturday, August 11, and concluding on Wednesday, August 15. Today's rules mandate single practices between two-a-day workouts.

AN EMPHASIS ON SPECIAL TEAMS PLAY

"The way I look at two-a-days now is in today's world it gives us extra time to work on special teams and a little more time to work on fundamentals at individual positions," says the San Jose State head coach.

"One practice is primarily special teams. We will hit every phase of our special teams and hone on it more and more. We've been working on it in practice every day. The other practice will be dedicated to offense and defense.

"We've done special teams work in bits and pieces for the (first) eight practices, like 20 minutes a day. Now, we'll take an hour and 20 minutes on special teams and do some Team work after that - last play type of things, 2:00-minute drills, critical plays that don't happen a lot, but you rehearse them. We'll introduce a lot of that."

A POSITIVE ATTITUDE GOING FORWARD

"It's another building block. We're excited about it. It's going to be hard and it's going to be tough. Eventually, that will help us get better. We're looking forward to it," says defensive tackle Travis Raciti.

"You have to look to two-a-days. You have to have a positive mindset moving forward and tackle this thing so we can make good things happen this year."

More Preseason Football Coverage
Guest Coach Offers Support
A Conversation with cornerback Ronnie Yell
A Q & A with offensive guard Nicholas Kaspar
Head coach Mike MacIntyre discusses the start of preseason camp