Dixon Gone, Cooper Arrives

The big news on the opening day of practice was the announcement that Kevin Dixon, an experienced defensive tackle who was going to supply key depth to the line, was booted from the team. Two arrests, both of which ultimately ended up getting dismissed, seem to be the reason, though only those on the team know if there was more to the story or not. Is there more than meets the eye, or is Pelini simply making a statement that trouble, whether later dismissed or not, would not be tolerated? Either way, it hurts to lose a solid contributor like Dixon on the first day of camp. But what Bo says, goes.

The other development was Khiry Cooper's arrival to the team. Cooper, a wide receiver recruit who has been mulling over playing for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim or whatever they call themselves, reported yesterday and seems content to play football until August 15th, which is the deadline for him to be signed. Good for him that he's coming to camp no matter what. If he signs, he signs, but if not, it'll be to his advantage to be playing and learning the offense in the meantime.

Quote of the Day, Practice 1
Pelini on the common factors between his former championship teams
“Effort and attitude and a willingness to learn and an eagerness to understand not just what to do, but how to do it and why. A lot of getting turnovers is getting the right people at the right places at the right time and getting there with an attitude and a tremendous amount of effort. Getting a lot of people around the ball so you can take advantage of opportunities. We don’t talk about turnovers, we talk about takeaways – to have an attitude to go take the ball from the offense. That’s something that will always continue as long as I’m associated with this football team.”

Attitude. Effort. Takeaways. Think that it sounds a bit better than what we've seen the past few years from KC's units? I can't wait to see these guys play........one other interesting tidbit from the media circus yesterday: Larry Asante's goal for interceptions this year: 15.........by himself!