Kaneland, DeKalb hold joint practice to make camp ‘a little more lively’

DeKALB — After a while, summer football practices can get monotonous facing the same teammates day in and day out.

And 7-on-7s, while providing a different foe, usually feature just offensive skill players.

DeKalb and Kaneland on Thursday met in a joint practice, giving the full rosters of both teams the chance to get some work in against different faces.

“It’s kind of more or less like a normal camp day, but against someone else,” DeKalb coach Derek Schneeman said. “Sometimes it gets so monotonous over the summer, you’re constantly hitting each other and going against each other it’s good to get someone else here. It makes camp a little more lively.”

It’s the first of two joint practices for the Knights, who head to Burlington Central next week. The Barbs will have joint practices against Hononegah, East Moline and Durand-Pecatonica over the next couple weeks as summer workouts end July 28.

[ Related: After eye-popping sophomore season, Kaneland junior QB Troyer Carlson ‘just wants to win’ ]

Fall practices start back up August 8 ahead of the start of the season on August 26.

“We’re sick and tired of playing ourselves,” DeKalb quarterback Adrien McVicar said. “That will get us injuries. But it felt good to have these people come out and practice with us and hit.”

McVicar said the atmosphere is noticeably different and more energetic than the standard 7-on-7 tournament.

“There’s definitely more energy because the whole team is together,” McVicar said. “There’s really not much energy at 7-on-7s besides the other teams just being there. It feels good having the whole team cheer you on while you’re doing your thing.”

Given that it’s full teams in pads, Schneeman said it eliminates the more unrealistic aspects of a 7-on-7.

“You just find out what you have,” Schneeman said. “Everybody can look good in shorts and we’re out here running around. But when you’re actually out here competing against someone else, you find out what you have. And they expose things they need to get better at. And at the end of the day that’s what we’re trying to do. We’re trying to get better.”

The practice between the former conference rivals ran two hours Thursday morning, with team drills, 7-on-7 drills and line drills.

“When you go against each other all the time you don’t really know where you stand,” Kaneland coach Pat Ryan said. “This gives us a chance to see where we are as a team, especially for the linemen. In the summer we do all that 7-on-7 stuff, that’s for the skill guys. The linemen don’t get a whole lot of work in. This was good for the linemen.”

Kaneland defensive back Alex Panico said a joint practice is a lot more useful as a measuring stick than a typical summer camp day.

“We like it because practicing against your own team, you start to pick up on their moves and defend them better,” Panico said. “Then you come here and see the hard work we’ve been doing every day pay off. That’s what we see in the 7-on-7 and the joint camps.”