Cedar Rapids Washington’s football version of Midnight Madness kicks off the season

CEDAR RAPIDS — A midnight practice? Really?

Yeah, why not. A midnight practice.

It was technically 12:01 a.m. Monday when Cedar Rapids Washington’s football team began its first official workout of the season. It came on the turf at Kingston Stadium.

This was a promise first-year head coach Eric Addy made to his Warriors when he was hired in March. The early bird gets the worm, so let’s be the early birds.

The earliest birds. Football teams around the state began practice Monday but none earlier than Wash.

It was technically impossible.

“I’ve been waiting for this all year,” said Washington senior wide receiver-linebacker Brock Davis. “This is exciting, honestly. You can’t get anything better than this. This is awesome. Under the lights at Kingston, come on now.

“The first day Coach came here he said we were going to have a midnight practice. I was like ‘There’s no way. I’ve never heard of this.’ But I think everyone here, we’ve been waiting for this. I’m really stoked to be here, I know the boys are really stoked to be here, too.”

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“For the team to be out here right when we were (first) able to be out here, it’s exciting,” said Washington senior lineman Jack Hobbs. “I’ve been waiting for this, and I think all the guys have been waiting for it. Coach came in and said we were going to have midnight practice. We were just like ‘All right. Let’s do it.’ I’m ready to go.”

The energy seemed good as Addy and his staff put their guys through their initial paces. A speaker played music at a respectable level of volume.

Kingston is in the middle of a neighborhood, of course.

“Bonding,” Washington senior running back-lineman Alex Taylor said. “We were having a good time hanging out before this. We got ready, and this will be more team bonding.”

“Coach Addy from day one has preached accountability over everything,” said junior quarterback Grady McGuire. “It’s being here and working hard. Put the team before everything else. I think we’ve all really bonded.”

Addy came to Washington after stints at West Central Valley and Des Moines North. Many believe North is the toughest coaching job in Iowa because its students have the highest percentage of free-and-reduced lunch status in the state, but the coach was able to build a strong football culture at the school, win some games and produce multiple Division I college players.

Building a strong culture at Washington began in the summer and continued at 12:01 a.m. Monday.

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“The main thing is kind of setting the stage and kicking the season off the right way,” he said. “It leans into our culture, where it’s like, hey, we want to be tough. OK, so when everybody else is sleeping on that first day, we’re working. We want to beat everybody to the first practice. Hopefully we’re the only team in the state practicing at 12:01.

“It’s a fun deal. If I was a kid and got told this, that we were practicing the first day at 12:01, I would be really excited about it. All the kids are.”

It sure seemed like it anyway. McGuire said he and some teammates drafted fantasy football teams before driving to Kingston, too excited to take pre-practice naps.

A parent support group provided everyone breakfast after practice, which went until 2 a.m. or so. Breakfast burritos always hit the spot.

“Pretty stoked about that,” Davis said.

And this group seems pretty stoked about its chances at improving upon last season’s 1-8 record.

“Coach has loved us, been there for us since he got here. He respects all of us,” Davis said. “He believes in you. That’s what I love about him. He wants us to be ‘TTW’: Tough Together Warriors. That’s our saying. That’s kind of what has started this change. It’s going well for us.

“We grinded all offseason. Everyone has a chip on their shoulder. I think we can do some damage out here. We’re excited to see what we can do.”

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Comments: jeff.johnson@thegazette.com