A January/February SWAC Preseason


Earle

Well-Known Member
Gone, at least for the moment, is a SWAC football preseason played out under the swelztering summer sun of our nation's southern-most states. Gone also are sweaty players dressed out in shorts and tank tops with cooling stations nearby containing oversized tubs filled with ice and water. Gone still more, most probably, are early morning, dawn of day workouts before the school day opens. Enter a preseason born in the heart of winter, a first for modern-day college football. The winters are mild in Baton Rouge, where I went to college. It is not uncommon for temperatures to fall to or just below freezing during the early hours but rise to the lower 70s by the mid-afternoons. I used to live in Huntsville, Madison County, and Anthens, Limestone County, situated in Northern Alabama. There, the winters are colder and a wintry mix is much more likely than in southern Louisiana. I can remember attending an AAMU football game against SU and having to leave at halftime due to the weather. The cold was absolutely unbearable and unforgetting. This was November, not January! I've also lived in Rankin County (Flowood), Mississippi, a Jackson suburb. While the winters there seem to be a tad bit colder than BR, yet they are not as cold as Northern Alabama. The preseason will unfold in the dead of winter, a new normal to which our players must adjust. Practicing football in January and February will feel quite differently than playing football in October and November. Getting in quality prepration time could be a difficult proposition.
 
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Also playing a season (if there is one) in the heart of severe weather season will be a new layer. By the time the season starts, we will be transitioning into spring with temps generally being in the upper 50s/low 60s with springtime blooms starting to blossom

To go from heat breaks to possibly having practices held inside due to cold snaps (days in which it doesn't get over 30-35 degrees with wind chill) will be interesting.
 
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Yep, "The Hawk is out" on Da Hill during that time of year. That's what we pledged in though; running those hills 11 and 12 at night; eveybody coming out to see the block shows; I think our guys will be alright.
 
The temps about PV aren't as concerning as that time of year it ranges in extremes between decently warm days and very cold evenings/nights.

What concerns me is something I noted over the last few years w/ regards to twister/hail potential. 2 years ago, Jan, a few twisters occurred about the area. 2019, twisters in Feb. When and where did it start occurring to have twisters/hail storms in Jan/Feb?

That westerly/NWesterly track entering "flat" Waller county during the transition from winter to spring seriously concerns me.
 
Houston winters are know to be very "bipolar" for lack of a better term. Lol. Eighty degrees one day, 40 the next, a hail storm the next, and a thunderstorm with flooding the next. It will be very interesting how we adjust.
 
The Frozen Tundra!
 

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