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Throughout preseason football camp, Assistant Director of Athletics Communications Rachel Perreault will take you on a behind-the-scenes look at different aspects of the football program that go beyond the practice field. In today’s 14th - and final - installment, she takes a look at what goes on in the position meetings.

This weekend, preseason football camp comes to a close. The team will participate in a closed scrimmage on Saturday and next week it will prepare specifically for Georgia Tech. All the preparation they have put in during preseason will begin to show as the squad nears the start of the season.

Maybe the biggest way the team prepares for not only competition, but for any time it hits the field, is in meetings. The staff meets as a unit every morning throughout not only camp but the season as well. During preseason, the players meet by position before and after practice. Once the season starts, they will only meet once a day before practice.

Players meet by position, while there are also special teams meetings they will participate in. These meeting are a chance to not only break down film and practice, but dissect performances and check the team’s knowledge of the playbook and make sure everyone has done their homework.

Running backs coach Shane Beamer has the luxury of traveling just one door down from his office for his position meeting, while all of the other coaches and players head to the Michael Vick hallway. Each room is equipped with the new system for video access and Beamer seems to be one of the few that has mastered using it.

A little late to his meeting, the players get a little leverage for flack that they usually receive from their position coach. Beamer jumps right into the film breakdown with his patiently awaiting stallions. They watch clips from practice the day before and break down plays, technique and specific drills.

Speaking quickly and moving through every aspect of every play, Shane spends about 3-4 minutes on each segment. Referring to players by all sorts of nicknames, such as “Pitbull” for Riley Beiro or “Double D” for Daniel Dyer, it is hard to decipher the difference between name-calling and play calling. Though the tone in the room is light with either the players or coach ragging on missteps or flaring tempers after the play, the response to breakdowns good or bad is always “yes sir.”

Once he’s done with the film break down he heads to the front of the room to correct some of his own mistakes and offer up his own punishment of up-downs for the slip up. Heading to the already-full white boards in the meeting room, he breaks down a couple plays and quickly previews the upcoming practice for the players, letting them know what drills they can expect.

With the season quickly approaching the players and coaches try to take as much advantage as possible of the extra meeting time they have during camp. Next week the usual season schedule will ensue, and the majority of video study will be done by the players and coaches on their own. Labor Day night will be here before they know it, but all involved will fully prepared, given they were able to decipher and follow along with Beamer’s speedy play calling.

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