With a week 1 bye, BIU have drawn the short straw in some ways. But in other regards, it might work out just fine.
"Effectively we've been able to add an extra week to our preseason prep, without actually starting earlier," noted Jenna Macfarlane, the strength and conditioning co-director. "And so we've been able to run a more gradual taper at the end of the conditioning program and spend more of that last week on the playbook side, which is obviously very important given the number of first-years we've got on this team in important roles."
That would be an understatement. The starting QB, southpaw speedster Thomas Dillehay, is newly aboard the Herons ship. (Can a program with a bird nickname really be considered to be a ship? Considering Cobden's coastal location - and, relatedly, having an entire School of Oceanography - probably...) Ditto star guard Charlie Frantzve, projected starting SB Gary Maher, and flankers Aron Andersson and Phanzus Boimoks - and that's just on the offensive side. Only nose tackle Aron Gylfisson returns from last season's first-choice defensive front, and even he will be part of a rotation that now includes the enormous new addition of José Antonio García Martínez, aka "Gigante." The initial depth chart has first-years filling both starting spots at both DE and edge rusher, while linebacker Benjamin Luck and corners Nastadgus Handbosm and Raymond van der Beek are also earmarked for immediate roles of significance.
"Obviously the way our team was put together last season meant there was always a good chance of us getting more additions this time around and more impact additions in particular - fewer of the top Varnian prospects opted to go straight to the KLoG (Kytlerian League of Gridiron) this time, I think our program now has the proof-of-concept about it," noted head coach Angufams Juchona. "And honestly every year we move further away from The Isolation the more the resistance to the new era has faded, the more acceptance has grown, even in Varn. And I think the thing with NSCF is that it has that localist feeling towards it, that community element, that some of those people really love and which have been a big part of their attachment to isolationism in the first place."
Some of those players were surprised to see a female strength and conditioning coach, even though she technically forms part of a tandem alongside former KLoG defensive lineman Raymond Whalley. (Macfarlane, a former circus artist in Bitternea, runs the mobility sessions, with weightlifting entrusted to Whalley.) "At first I couldn't take her seriously," acknowledged Frantzve. "At least not when I first saw her and she was in her hoodie. Then she took that off and was in her running vest and we all took one look at her arms and were like - damn, she's ripped!" He laughs. "And the stretching we did with her, my god..."
"I told everyone to watch out for Jenna!" laughed second-year corner Timothy Draper. "She's been such a key part of my improvement in coverage since I came here. Obviously being on the longer side and being used to operating in run support I was used to press-man kind of play, even though I'm obviously a bit on the lean side even with the lifting I've been doing trying to get me closer to 90kg (198lbs in Vibe Units), but when you see a pass play - and in NSCF you very often do, especially against certain opponents - you've got to be able to swivel around, mirror and match in man or flip your hips in zone, and I was too stiff to really do that before and with Jenna that's been changing for sure."
After that off week, the Herons start their campaign at the CBDN Bowl. No big deal, just the Cavsar University Gladiators, top-ranked team in the multiverse and title game participants in the last two seasons. It could be a rampage. Gladiators fans will no doubt expect a rampage.
But this is a different BIU. And they can't wait to let the multiverse find out how different.
