Just being able to practice a big deal to some teams this August

You know what? We actually may pull this off. You know — a real season, complete with 12-game schedules and butts in seats.

Pardon the sense of amazement in my tone. It’s easy to forget what last season felt like. It’s easy to put out of your mind that at this time last season, we didn’t know for sure that there would be a last season.

The coaches haven’t forgotten. The great joy to be seen and heard in College Football Land this month has been practice, practice that began and has continued uninterrupted for more than three weeks.

If the joys of practice escape you, you clearly are not a coach. Coaches love practice. Coaches love seeing their players improve, step by step, yard by yard. They love making that connection with a player, shepherding him from boy to man.

You want to hear glee? Ask a coach whose team didn’t have August practice last season what August practice has felt like.

“It’s been a lot of fun,” Colorado coach Karl Dorrell said.

When Yale gathered August 19 for its first practice, coach Tony Reno got to stand in front of his team for the first time in 17 months.

“To build young men is why I went into this,” Reno said. “Just to be able to do it again on a personal one-on-one level, not through a computer, is pretty cool.”

Dorrell, you may recall, didn’t get the Colorado job until February 22 of last year. His predecessor, Mel Tucker, signed a class of recruits, then ducked out for Michigan State. Dorrell came in from the Miami Dolphins, and before he could get to know his team, you know what happened. The pandemic canceled spring practice, and last August, the Pac-12 canceled its season.

By the time the Pac-12 decided to begin play in November, Dorrell had spent 228 days in the job without stepping on the field with his players.

“We couldn’t train,” Dorrell said, referring to the weight room. “There were times we could only train one athlete at a time. And you have 120 players on your team. How long does that take in a day?”

Knowing that every other coach in the Pac-12, as well as Tucker and everyone else in the Big Ten, also couldn’t practice calmed Dorrell’s jangled nerves. But he figured out that he needed to improvise, needed to find a way to connect with players he couldn’t identify without their Zoom IDs.

So Dorrell improvised. He gathered his players on Zoom and put himself out there for all to see. He told them about the ups and downs of his career. Dorrell became coach at UCLA in 2003. He was the crosstown rival of Pete Carroll when Carroll made USC into America’s team. While the Trojans went 35-1 from 2003-05, Dorrell’s Bruins went 23-15. More specifically, they went 6-7, 6-6, and 10-2. There’s a story in that.

“My first year at UCLA, I just put in my program. ‘This is how we do it and I don’t want any questions asked,’ ” Dorrell said. “It was more kind of a pro mentality, and I quickly realized these guys are still kids. They’re just big kids.”

In that third year, Dorrell began treating his players less like the guys on the other end of a business transaction and more like students.

“I realized this is how I have to touch people,” Dorrell said. “I’ve been coaching that way ever since. So, when the pandemic hit, to make a long story short, I dove into earning the players’ trust. ‘This is how I’m going to do it. This is who I am.’ I showed them my vulnerability about mistakes I have made. ‘This is what I’ve done now. This is what I’ve learned.’ They opened up and they started to trust me.”

That explains how the Buffs, with a new coach and not much practice, started 4-0 last season. They lost the finale to Utah 38-21, but the season gave them a solid foundation for 2021. They practiced in the spring. They’re practicing now.

Players see August as a month of unending practices. Coaches see August within a larger framework. Not having that personal connection is one of the many things that made last year so challenging for everyone. The experience left a lasting impression on Reno.

“Every opportunity you have with your players is just so valuable,” said Reno, who has led Yale to two of the past three Ivy titles. “You never know which day is the most important one. You make sure that you remember that every day. When the world gets busy, you make sure you remember that the most important point is that relationship you have with your team. When it gets taken from you, it becomes even more important to you.”

College football has made it to the starting line. The threat of COVID-19 continues to hover over the sport, just as it hovers over the nation. But the season is here, and it looks and feels just like a regular season, August practices and all.