The Dream That Will Never End…An experience of the football camp last year:Anyway, back to Thursday morning. We checked in and boarded the bus in Michigan Stadium. Wow!!! I must be dreaming that I am dreaming. I am sure my Dad was smiling at that moment. We got to the Stadium and got to change in the player’s locker room. We walked through a doorway and I stopped. I had to soak in every inch of this. It was the player’s locker room, where they gathered after every game for the last eighty years. This is the room where they sang “The Victors” after every win and cried after a loss. This was special. There was a huge block “M” in the middle of the floor and players had their own locker. Nameplate “7 Paul Morencie.” Hey, that is me. I made the team. Our practice t-shirt, shorts and socks were hanging there with a brand new hat on the shelf. This was my locker, even though it was for only two days. I laced up my new cleats. Never worn but for this occasion it was necessary. I was damn proud.
We changed and got back on the bus to go to Schembechler Hall. Not many people get to penetrate these hallowed walls. I am one of the lucky ones. I am going to a building where all the great ones went, where they learned how to be great players. As we got off the bus, the great Jamie Morris at the door greeted us all. He took the time to shake everyone’s hand. We followed the Assistant Athletic Director Scott Draper to a door that said “Michigan, Where only the best is good enough.” There was a little sign beside the door that said “Full Team Meeting Room.” Have I said “Wow” yet?
We all sat down and I sat in the front row because I was not going to miss a second of this. They handed out playbooks, we were told that for any meeting in this building we were to take off our hats and have both feet flat on the floor, and there will be no slouching in your seat. When Coach Carr walks through the door, every player is expected to enthusiastically greet him. Not because he is Lloyd Carr but the coach wants every player to be excited that he is playing for the University of Michigan. He walked through the door and grabbed the room. There was silence except for his voice. You listened to every word. Coach talked for about forty-five minutes. He gave the same speech that he will give his players on the first day of fall camp. His main point was that to be a championship team, all players must give themselves to a cause that is bigger than they are. You must win for Michigan. He is a man that speaks concisely and chooses his words carefully. He tells the players what he thinks. He admittedly does not sugar coat things when he is dealing with them. He is fair and realizes that kids make mistakes and he will trust them until they no longer deserve his trust. He says that motivation must come from within. A great player is a self-motivated player. He seems to have a certain presence about him that when he speaks, you listen. Sitting in the front row at the Michigan team meeting room, listening to Lloyd Carr is something I will never forget.
After Coach finished, the offensive coaches came in to speak to us. Everything had been very relaxing until this point and then the fun began. The offensive coaches put in one play that had a couple of different variations. These coaches are very competitive and even in this situation they do not want to lose. They want us to be successful. Every offensive coach talked to us about the position the coach and what that position has to do during this one play to make it successful. They wanted to make sure that we understood that we had to study our playbook tonight. We all did. It was talked about on the bus the next morning. By the time the coaches were done, we were all pretty confused. The defensive coordinator, Ron English came out to talk to us. If you look up intensity in the dictionary his face would be there. He came out and said that he wanted to stop the offense in the next two days and we believed him. The linebacker coach, Steve Szabo. He is a real tough guy, no nonsense, military guy. Just listening to this guy reaffirmed my wish to be a linebacker at this camp. That night at the cocktail reception I told him that it was a privilege to be yelled at by him. I felt like a real player. The following day at a meeting, Coach Debord pleaded with us playing defense not to screw up anymore because he was tired of hearing Coach Szabo screaming.
written by MORENCIE124
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