Throughout his first summer as the new University of Tennessee at Chattanooga men's basketball coach, Matt McCall and his assistants were able to have a couple of hours of individual instruction a week with players on the team.
But to McCall, there's nothing like that first official day of practice.
The Mocs went through their first team workout for the 2015-16 season Friday at the Chattem Practice Facility, and it was an intense session that lasted more than two hours. Friday marked four weeks until the team's exhibition contest against Covenant on Nov. 6. The season officially begins on the road at Georgia on Nov. 13.
"The intensity level has been through the roof," McCall said. "The guys have an unbelievable capacity to work, and that's real impressive to me. Any time you've got to coach effort and enthusiasm is when you need to get concerned. We don't have to do that; the execution isn't great, but we have time to tighten up and get better.
"I've really been impressed with their capacity to work."
For seniors Alex Bran, Casey Jones and Eric Robertson, this is their fourth "first" practice, and they're now on their third coaching staff. After starting their careers in 2012-13 under John Shulman, the trio played two seasons with now Virginia Commonwealth coach Will Wade before transitioning to McCall this year.
For freshmen Trey Kalina, Zaqwaun Matthews and Peyton Woods, it was their first experience in a college setting.
"Wade's practices were intense. The only difference is the personnel," Jones said. "There's still a lot of the same people around - a lot of good people, a lot who want to win - and the only real difference is the personnel.
"There's a lot of the same concepts."
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him at twitter.com/genehenleytfp.