Football battles late August heat

It's hot, damn hot.

When it's this hot, it's important to stay cool. It's especially important if you're oh, say, 6'7", 305 lbs and spend two to three hours a day -- twice a day, everyday -- running around in full pads and a helmet.

Meet Jeff Hatch. He's 6'7", 305 lbs. and does exactly that.

It's important to keep this big guy cool because, in a very real way, he carries the Penn football team's hopes for an Ivy League title defense squarely on his broad shoulders.

"I feel great about this year," the senior offensive lineman said. "We've got 18 of 22 starters back. It's virtually the same team."

Hatch, who started all 10 games at tackle last year, was, and will be, instrumental in protecting quarterback Gavin Hoffman, the reigning Ivy League Player of the Year and, by all statistical accounts, the most prolific passer Franklin Field has ever seen.

Hatch and his teammates on the line -- all of whom are returning starters -- will also be clearing the way for a healthy Kris Ryan, the Quakers' star running back and the "two" in the Red and Blue's potent one-two punch.

In order to make this Ferrari go, though, you have to protect the engine, and that's where the offensive line comes in. And it's important -- in this heat -- to keep the big guys cool and happy.

The problem of keeping football players hydrated and healthy in the August heat -- which has been around as long as football -- got some time in the national spotlight earlier this summer when, on July 31, Minnesota Vikings tackle Korey Stringer died of complications from heat stroke after the first day of Vikings training camp.

Stringer's death served to heighten the nation's awareness of two other football-and-heat-related deaths, those of incoming Florida freshman Eraste Autin on July 25, and the asthma-related death of Northwestern safety Rashidi Wheeler on August 3.

Penn head coach Al Bagnoli agreed that while this summer's incidents may have made everyone a little more aware of the dangers of mixing the late summer heat with the start of college football practice, he said that the Quakers have always taken every precaution with regard to keeping players hydrated.

"Our trainers have a device to measure the heat, humidity and the heat index," Bagnoli said. "When it gets past a certain mark, they let us know, and we make sure the guys take off all their pads before we do conditioning stuff.

"We also encourage the kids to get hydrated before practice starts, and we weigh them before and after every practice to make sure they're not losing too much weight. Obviously, if a kid feels like he's overheated, we put him out."

Hatch thinks the trainers' efforts to keep him and his teammates hydrated are more than enough.

"There are constantly water girls on the field, watching, making sure we have enough water," Hatch said. "There's always a water bottle within reach. You never have to go asking for one."

Senior defensive lineman Ed Galan agrees, "They've got water stations all over the place, and plus, we get those four-hour breaks in the middle of the day [between practices] when it's hottest."

Galan also said that there's a "heightened awareness" of the possibility of heat stroke because of the Stringer incident, and he admitted that the nature of football is to push oneself to the limit and beyond.

"It's hard to speculate," Galan said. "[Wheeler] could have felt individual pressure, team pressure, I don't know. He had asthma, too, which doesn't help. But there's definitely the possibility of individual pressure. You see everybody else out there running a hundred miles an hour, and you want to, too."

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