Photo by Hunter Wilson/Daily News The Western Kentucky football team begins practice Monday at Houchens-Smith Stadium, which is nearing completion after an extensive offseason renovation that added a second side to the facility (right).

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The themes Monday night at Western Kentucky’s first football practice of the 2008 season seemed to be tempo, nerves and more tempo.

The Hilltoppers took the field for the first session of what is arguably the most anticipated season to date. While first-day jitters were apparent, the focus on both sides of the ball was speed.

“You could tell everybody was excited, especially this morning - even at breakfast it seemed like everybody had a little more pep in their step,” sophomore quarterback K.J. Black said. “You can tell we’re all excited to be out here, everybody’s moving fast and I’m one of those guys. I was just ready to get it started.

“But if you’re not nervous the first day, something’s wrong. Everybody was a little tight, just trying to show the coaches what we could do.”

With the nerves and excitement, errors are expected. Coach David Elson admitted there were a decent number of miscues Monday, but one thing occurred that he’s never seen during his tenure at WKU.

“I thought we started slow and sloppy in a lot of places, but I don’t remember a first practice where we were able to get all our reps in - and we did today,” Elson said. “We got everything in, and I think they understood the tempo and the way we wanted to practice. With everybody being quick to get back to the line of scrimmage, we saw a lot of good things out of the young guys, so overall I think it was definitely a positive.

“But the big eye in the sky doesn’t lie, so we’ll look at the film and evaluate it.”

The offensive and defensive units almost seemed to rush back to the line of scrimmage, something Elson said is all part of a plan.

“It’s part of what we’re trying to do, and it’s something that gives us trouble on defense, when the offenses are good at changing tempos and speeding it up it makes it tough,” Elson said. “And the other thing it does for you is conditioning - we have to be able to finish games in the fourth quarter, so practicing at that high tempo, when we get into games it should feel slow - things should almost slow down and be easier for them.

“That’s how we’re trying to design practice - we used to say get in and out of the huddle, but we don’t huddle anymore so get everybody back up to the line as quick as possible.”

Senior offensive tackle Greg Ryan - who returns after a volunteer redshirt last season - said everyone noticed the up-tempo pace, and it’s something he hopes continues throughout the season.

“We’re going to have a high-tempo offense and a high-tempo defense this year,” Ryan said. “With the spread, no-huddle offense we’re trying to get that (tempo) started and set on day one.

“The quicker we get up there, the more confused they’ll be.”

But even with all the talk of tempo, the main undercurrent on Day 1 was excitement.

“The first day of fall practice is an exciting day any way you look at it,” Ryan said. “Even though we’re just in helmets, we were still getting after each other today and we had a great practice.

“We’re just as excited as we were as freshmen.”

But over-excitement and sloppiness sometimes go hand-in-hand. The nerves figure to be around for at least a few days.

“I think it will take about a week (to settle in),” Black said. “Once we get full pads on and have a couple of tough practices in, things will get better and tougher. Every time we add a layer of shoulder pads or things like that, you’ll have those same jitters in you.”

Still, Elson said he expects the sloppiness to begin fading away once the routine sets in.

“I think that sloppiness has to do with (nerves),” Elson said. “Young guys have their hearts pounding with their first college practice, everybody’s out here and it’s hot and we all have to deal with it.

“I know it always takes me some time to get back into rhythm of working in periods, so I would expect that practice two will be a little less sloppy.”

--Click here to read a WKU football blog post from Daily News sportswriter Nick Baumgardner.