In the first day since being named the starting running back, Storm Woods was out there with the first team for almost all of the reps in Friday's practice.

Woods looked really good running the ball to the outside today, getting behind his blockers, and getting to the edge quickly. His ability to catch the ball and be a pass blocker were undoubtedly big factors that separated him from his main competitor, Malcolm Agnew.

A lot of situations were done today in skeleton and full team drills, including some work with the scout teams going against the first and second-team offense and defense units. They were doing a lot of third-down-and-1 with blitz recognition for the offensive line and the quarterbacks.

"We had a lot of football," said head coach Mike Riley. "We went through about every situation we could do in an hour and ten minutes."

Friday was also the first practice - aside from the walkthroughs at night - that the team began doing scout team work in preparation for the first game of the season, Sept. 1 against Nicholls State.

"We're pushing through this week," Riley said. "We're doing a little Nicholls State stuff and then we'll go from there."