Hard work begins now for 2023 Toledo football team

5-6 minutes 8/2/2023
Sunrise was at 6:29 a.m. on Wednesday.
Jason Candle was already well into his workday at the Larimer Athletic Complex, perhaps celebrating one of his favorite days of the year: the start of football practice.
At 8:30 a.m., the Glass Bowl officially welcomed back its tenant.
“There’s nothing like fall camp,” Candle said.
The calendar still says that it’s summer, but fall is announcing its arrival with football under way across the country. Similar to spring practice, when every coach in America exudes optimism, no one has lost a game yet and everyone envisions a winning season.
Candle is one of those coaches, and Toledo is one of those teams. But there’s validity to the Rockets’ conviction, it’s not just a pie-in-the-sky proclamation. They return 16 starters from the defending Mid-American Conference champions and have enough credence for Phil Steele to rank them No. 22.
“It’s good that we’re getting recognition,” junior wide receiver Jerjuan Newton said. “That means we’re doing something right. But we can’t fall into that trap. We’re approaching it like last year — we’re the underdogs. We have to attack camp and every practice like it’s a championship game. Every rep has to be a championship rep.”
And it all started Wednesday, the first of 25 practices leading up to Sept. 2 at Illinois. Each step of the offseason was deemed a success by coaches and players. Winter workouts were conducted in the afterglow of wins over Ohio in the MAC title game and Liberty in the Boca Raton Bowl.
Following UT’s spring showcase at the Glass Bowl, Candle declared the preceding weeks a step forward in developing depth, getting young players adapted to college football, and identifying veteran leaders for 2023. Those same leaders spurred growth during the summer, as most of May, June, and July are player-led activities.
“I’m stoked. There’s an energy about our team right now,” senior defensive lineman Judge Culpepper said. “Everybody is itching to play football. We’ve had a good summer of workouts. A lot of young guys have really matured. We have a lot of guys coming back. We’re a solid group. There’s definitely a brotherhood feeling that you hope builds throughout camp.
“The coaches have doubled down, and it starts with player leadership. We are returning 16 starters, but we lost some really good players. We’re very hungry. Nine games is great and winning a MAC championship is awesome, but we could be on the precipice of something even greater. Everybody in the program is not satisfied, which is exactly what you want.”
Culpepper is one of those who are eager to raise his game, not that he played at a lesser level the past two seasons since transferring from Penn State. He started all 13 games in 2021 and made an immediate impact. Last season, Culpepper was eighth on the team in tackles and had three sacks.
Without Desjuan Johnson, Jamal Hines, and Nate Givhan, somebody (or somebodies) will be required to not necessarily improve their play but boost their production. It’s not far-fetched to project the 6-foot-4, 290-pound Culpepper — a workhorse at defensive tackle — to double his tackles-for-loss output from four to eight in 2023.
“We’re all trying to elevate our games so we can recreate [the numbers from 2022],” said Culpepper, who noted the high approval rating of new defensive line coach Frank Okam. “We have a ton of young talent and a lot of hungry guys.”
Toledo is in a good place entering camp, according to Culpepper, with the focus on themselves. There’s an effort to build on the current confidence to achieve the team-issued goals, which are going unsaid in public.
“This is when it gets serious, and it’s time to lock in,” Newton said. “It’s great to be with the whole team again. You get excited when you’re getting ready for games again. We had a really good offseason, from younger guys to the 16 starters coming back. The young guys are understanding how to work hard and get into the culture. All of our vets are good people to follow. You can’t go wrong with that.”
But you can’t just roll the ball out and expect results. The Rockets still have to make progress in each of their 25 practices, using each day as a building block for the future.
Sometimes, it might require rising before the sun.
“I’m cautiously optimistic about what could happen if a lot of things fall into place,” Candle said. “In college football, with 18-to-22-year-olds, there are so many variables and things that can prohibit you from getting what you want to get done.
“Ultimately, the goal every year is to win a championship. Everyone is 0-0 with the same goal in mind. It all comes back to how many good days you can put together and how many good days you can turn into great weeks and great months.”