The week of homecoming is not an ordinary week for the A&T football team.

Players will be tasked with balancing football practice with homecoming festivities.

The fashion in which the Aggies operate this week could be critical to their chances on Saturday against Virginia University of Lynchburg.

Normally, Monday is the day the football team reviews the game plan for the week.

“We are going to try to get better and start on preparation for the weekend, hopefully we can get better and play better as a football team,” said A&T head coach Rod Broadway.   

The team is scheduled to report to the field house around 3 p.m. to watch film, and end practice by 6 p.m. After practice, the team is introduced to other students who want to enjoy the start of homecoming.

The first scheduled event for homecoming is the homecoming countdown, which included the gym jam that took place Monday night in Corbett Sports Center.

Keeping a football mindset during homecoming week could prove to be a crucial challenge for the coaching staff this week. “We have got to win this game, the main thing for us is to focus and concentrate and play as well as we can play this game. Homecoming will be a lot more enjoyable for us if we can do that,” said Broadway.  

On Tuesday, the football team digs deeper into understanding the ins-and-outs of the game plan.

“A Tuesday practice is our first real workday preparing for our opponent,” said A&T defensive back D’vonte Graham.  

A Tuesday football practice is the most-physical day at practice for each position.

The offense and defense do a lot of hitting and situational drills in preparation for the game on Saturday.

After 6 p.m., the football players become students again and are free to experience “The Greatest Homecoming on Earth.”

The second event of the week is the comedy show, which is starred comedian Mike Epps.

“I don’t think the comedy show will have any effect on our mindset. I think we have guys on our team that know when it’s football time and when it’s time to enjoy ourselves off the field,” said Graham.

Wednesday is referred to as hump day, but for the Aggies, it is working Wednesday.

The Aggies will endure one more physical day in the trenches.

“Wednesday practices are focus intensive days. They are long days full of adjustments and game plan changes,” said A&T quarterback Lewis Kindle.

By Wednesday, everyone on the team should have the game plan down pack.

If a player fails to comprehend the game plan, it is possible that coach Broadway will go with another instead.

While students enjoy

festivities, how much of a homecoming experience will the Aggie football team have?

Quarterback Lewis Kindle says, “For the most part, we don’t get to experience the full effect of homecoming. We still have to sacrifice in order to be successful.”

Receiver Desmond Lawrence also commented saying, “It’s homecoming. There will be a lot of distractions throughout the week. We are all adults, and it is up to us to stay focused and come to practice.”

The physicality level will be at a minimum during Thursday’s practice.

“A Thursday practice is more of a focus and mistake-free practice,” said Linebacker Bryan Houston.

Thursday is about 70 percent mental and 30 percent physical. The coaches will insert the final adjustments to the game plan and emphasize the importance of special teams in the game.

On Thursday’s, the workload is heavy for punt returners, kick returners, kickers and punters.

The team will also be practicing different situations, such as long yardage, short yardage, red-zone offense and defense. This is another crucial practice because these scenarios arise in each game.

After a Thursday practice, all the hard work for the week has been completed. For the players, the next period will be getting rested and restored into game form. Following practice, students can look forward to the pep rally.

With several A&T students trick-or-treating or going to Halloween parties to celebrate, can football players trust their teammates to do the right thing Thursday night?

Houston interjected by saying, “Yes, I trust my teammates believing that together we will stay in Thursday night and get our minds prepared and ready to win a football game for our alumni on homecoming”.

Friday is all about the mental state of mind for the Aggies. Linebacker D’Vonte Grant described the Aggies Friday practice as “meetings and depth chart corrections along with film study and rest.” On Friday’s, the team walks through their on-field assignments to ensure they know what to do on game day.

The amount of sleep players get can make or break their game-day performance.

The last event prior to the homecoming football game is the step show.

Students may believe that the Aggie football team will be distracted by homecoming events, but Grant feels otherwise. “This Friday will be no different because the team is focused, and we know what we have to do to get prepared for the game on Saturday.”

As homecoming unfolds, we will see if the homecoming events are truly a distraction this Saturday at 1p.m. when the Aggies and the Dragons of Virginia University of Lynchburg square off.

• JEREMY DAYS Register Reporter