Colts TE Dallas Clark Blog-July 31
It is coming to the end of the year here. The summer has been great. I always enjoy this time, but usually once July 4 hits, you kind of start getting into camp mindset. It's a lot different now preparing for Year Seven than it was Year One and Two. The first couple of years, I didn't really know what to expect and was a little nervous. But after going through it a few times, I kind of look forward to it now and really enjoy camp. It's not as brutal as it was the first couple of years when you're trying to learn the system and getting yelled at. Now that I know what's going on and know the system, it's just kind of fun being around the guys and working together and getting a lot accomplished when we're down in Terre Haute. They treat us well down there. Rose-Hulman has great facilities and great people, and they take great care of us.**
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I'm really looking forward to this year, especially with a new head coach in Jim Caldwell, a whole different setup, new coaches, new players. It will be fun to see how Coach Caldwell handles things and how he goes about business. I think a lot of stuff will be the same, but I think there will definitely be some noticeable changes that the players are looking forward to.
We had a really good mini-camp and summer school and got a good feel of how Coach Caldwell is and his mannerisms and his coaching philosophies. With those practices you don't really have a chance to get too in-depth with those things—it's not the season—but still you kind of get the feel of how he is going to handle things. Just from the short time we've had already as a team, you can see that there are a lot of similarities, yet there is something different about him. I think he's a guy that believes strongly in a lot of the things that Coach Dungy did because Coach Dungy had a lot of great philosophies and tendencies. I think we all learned from those and will take those as we continue without him. But I also think Coach Caldwell has his own way he wants to do things, and, as a player, that's exciting. It's going to be fun to see what the differences are and see what happens.
My favorite part of camp is just being around the guys, because this last month or so everyone has kind of gone their own way. During the summer, you see each other, but it's kind of in-and-out and hit-or-miss. At camp, we're locked in and around each other for a few weeks. It's the dorm time, the meetings. Practices are practices, but everything else, being around them and hanging out with the guys again and just seeing how everyone's summers were, that's what I enjoy. It's our time to kind of get in the groove, start building on winning a championship. It all starts there. That's always the part I look forward to, is hanging out with the guys.
Although I'm really looking forward to heading to camp, this will be the hardest camp ever in the sense of leaving my wife, Karen, and our newborn son, Dane. It will be hard, a lot different from the years past. It will be hard to leave them, but I think all three of us will adjust. The good thing is we get Sundays off during camp and we get to come back home for the afternoon. It will be great seeing them and seeing how he's grown and what I've missed. That will definitely be the hardest part of camp, I'm sure.
But right now, I'm looking forward to training camp and hopefully a great season ahead. I will keep updating you every couple of Fridays here throughout the season. GO COLTS!
