All summer, members of the Cardinal football team have been gathering here, beyond the shadow of Hoover Tower, three days a week. To the shrill bleat of a coach's whistle, the players stretch, run sprints and -- in between drills -- casually toss around a football on the scruffy practice field. Mostly, though, the 60 young men -- more than in years past -- try to build a team, to study one another's moves, to develop the synchronization that comes only with time.
This is the drudge work, when the only hints of fall's glory days are the red and white pennants flying atop the stadium nearby. But the players know why they are here. They rehash the lesson of last season's 3-8 finish like a mantra: we lost three or four games by just a couple of plays; we can win this year. "We realized we weren't as bad as our record indicated," says Todd Husak, a senior who starts as quarterback. "We could have beaten a lot of good teams. We could have beaten UCLA. . . . We take those positives and build on them."
The sheer number of players who stayed to practice together this summer -- nearly 90 percent of the upperclass members -- bodes well. They gave up family vacations and hanging out with hometown friends. With the help of the athletics department, they found local jobs. They tracked down short-term housing in a super-expensive real estate market. "That's a heck of a commitment, not only from the young men, but from their families," says head coach Tyrone Willingham.
The team opens the season at the University of Texas September 4 and heads into the first home game, against Washington State, on September 11 with a solid core of veterans. Last year, Stanford's squad returned just nine starters and 26 lettermen from the year before. This year, 19 starters and 45 lettermen are back. Clearly, one of the most crucial is wide receiver Troy Walters, a fifth-year senior. He holds the Cardinal career record for receiving yards (2,530) and could set a Pac-10 record this year. An ankle sprain last season kept him out of two games and limited his play in two others. Walters says the summer sessions are crucial to building morale and intensity. "There's a lot of excitement," he says. "It struck each and every one of us that starts now."
