WESTMINSTER, Md. — This was far from your typical off-season for McDaniel College football. You could say over the past couple months they’ve gone up-tempo off the field.
"This is a clean slate," said interim head coach David Sartin. "We got new coaches. We got some familiar faces. But at the end of the day we’re just starting a rebrand."
And Sartin is leading it. He was promoted in early June after former head coach Demarcus White resigned. Sartin, previously McDaniel’s offensive line coach, was suddenly in charge of it all and had to quickly arrange almost an entirely new staff.
"It’s been exciting. It’s been fun. It’s been nerve-racking. Kind of all the emotions every single day. But the most important part is I think once I got to camp, it became old hat," he said.
Players are already embracing Sartin’s style.
"I feel like he’s going to bring more fun to it, make sure everybody is relaxed for practices, game days, morning lifts, everything. Because that’s what we need around here," said Mike Cunningham. The junior defensive lineman is one of several returners to a team that went 3-7 last year. Starting quarterback Eric Grinwis is another, along with top receiver Hunter Sigler.
"Each player is hungry to have a winning season," said Sigler. "The culture out here is a lot different now. From where we left off last season it’s a lot better."
This preseason camp is nothing for Sigler after what happened earlier this week. He was right in the middle of the storm that ripped through Westminster on Monday night.
"I was coming right down [route] 140 actually, where all the electrical come down, and it was pretty scary honestly. Me and my mom were in the car. The car was shaking, sideways rain."
Fortunately they made it through okay. So did the rest of his teammates, who now turn all of their attention to week one.
The Green Terror opens its season on September 1 at Catholic.
Follow Shawn Stepner on Twitter @StepnerWMAR and Facebook
