Before any physical accomplishment occurs, the mind must accept the challenge. The body will follow. During the first day of team practice at Colorado, the coaching staff put extra effort into working on the minds of their players. It might be the first victory of the season.
Most players in camp this week weren’t a part of the team that finished 1-11 and last place in the PAC-12 a year ago. But that’s the taste that needs to be removed from the program.
Coach Gary Harrell wasted no time in establishing the mental expectations for this fall’s camp.
“We are going to win this year. We feel we are going to win. So put that in your head. Offense, we are going to win. Defense, we are going to win. Specialists, we are going to win. Today is the mindset that you must develop, that we are going to win. With that being said, yeah, nobody is giving us a chance,” Harrell said.
Believing in a winning program at Colorado may be a leap of faith for fans who have suffered through some lean years during the PAC-12 journey. Head coach Deion Sanders made sure to fully explain what “believing” means and where it might take you.
Mean it when you say it
After entering the room for a morning meeting with the team he started with one of his famous phrases as a coach, ‘I believe.” He then ensued to make a novel from the two words.
“You can’t say that just because I say it. You got to say that because you truly believe. What is a belief? A belief is an idea you hold with conviction and importance. When I say, I believe, I believe. I’m not playing, ain’t no hesitation, ain’t no joke, it’s real, it’s genuine, it’s authentic,” Sanders told his team.
“I love the coaching staff, I believe in them. I embody that. I envision that. I am that. So when I say I believe that means I believe in you. But the question is, do you believe? Do you believe that you’re a key ingredient to this team? Do you believe that you are going to do something spectacular in game one at TCU? Do you believe you have what it takes to get on the field? Do you believe that you are a winner? Do you all believe that we are going to win?”
As the mental turns to the physical, stay with Thee Pregame Show for all of the inside access to fall camp at Colorado. And for more video content from Thee Pregame Show, visit our YouTube Channel. You can become a subscriber and get notifications for the release of our latest videos.
