Don’t get the Blazers wrong; when they are on the field each afternoon and night for spring practice, they are working hard. When they’re not on the field or in the classroom, they’re having fun, though, and lots of it.

In between team meetings, practices, classes, study halls and dealing with the circulating speculation that coaches are leaving for other schools, Valdosta State football players are actually having a lot of fun.

Since beginning spring practice Feb 15, the reigning Division II champions have practiced nine times, shot a Harlem Shake video and made a trip to Atlanta where they were honored for their championship at the Georgia State Capitol.

“This spring practice has been a fun one, for me and my teammates,” linebacker Jeremy Grable said. “We did the Harlem Shake video, we went to the Capitol. It has been fun.”

Add in a few rainy days and scheduled off days, and the Blazers have also gotten some down time during their normally busy and chaotic spring practice.

“It has been different this week,” quarterback Cayden Cochran said. “I was talking with Kaleb Nobles today, since the rain washed our practice Monday and then we had the Capitol on Wednesday, it felt like we hadn’t practiced in a month. It was weird coming out here. It has been loose.”

Regardless of the fun and different spring, Cochran said players still know what is expected of them by the coaching staff and that the team is hungry to win another national championship.

“Guys know what is expected of them and they know there is a drive of what to go get,” Cochran said. “We’ve been there before. Now we have something pushing us forward to want to do it again.”

— Follow me on Twitter at @Ed_Hooper.