The sun was out and the lights weren’t on, but Washington’s football team took the field in “Choppy” Wagner Stadium in front of a small audience Friday night. It was an exciting and appropriate way for the Pam Pack to wrap up spring workouts.

The players, donning helmets and pads, ran a series of non-contact drives against one another to show Washington fans what they had accomplished in the spring. There’s been a lot of curiosity surrounding the program since Jon Blank took over as head coach. Many wondered how new offensive coordinator Perry Owens would tweak the offense, too.

“Any time we can step inside Wagner Stadium and put the helmets and shoulder pads on, that’s a good day,” Blank said. “When I was out here painting the field today, I thought, ‘Man, this is what it’s like during football season. This is a good feeling.’”

It was a payoff for the players, too. The mission since winter has been to change the team’s culture. The Pam Pack bought into the idea and has been putting in the work in the weight room since. They’ve seen the results in the form of improved numbers.

Once the 10-session spring period began, the players strived to take what they’d been working on and apply it to the practice field. Then they got to wrap everything up in the stadium they’ll be rushing into come August.

“I think they realize it’s a little more serious. We get to grind all the time on the practice field against each other,” Blank said. “It’s nice to even grind against yourself on the game field.

“It definitely felt like we were closing a chapter. Spring ball has been really good to us. We’ve come out and got 10 really good days in, and that includes the days inside because of bad weather. I think this has been a focused group. When we say embrace the grind, they’re embracing it.”

Blank added that there have been a few players that haven’t put the work in. He said that the majority of the team called that select few out, he took their helmet and that they’ll have a chance to earn it back in the summer.

Washington had over 50 players on hand for Friday’s showcase. His first takeaway of the afternoon was that the offense had no false starts. Mental sharpness was an area addressed in the offseason. The Pam Pack set itself back so often in its 3-9 season last year that it needed to be.

“Nothing put us backwards because of us shooting ourselves in the foot,” Blank said. He previously served as the defensive coordinator and still works extensively with the defense. He wanted to see his group stop the offense, but he was happy to see the offense not stop itself. “I give our offensive line coaches credit for that.”

In the same vein, the first-team offense didn’t turn the ball over.

“If we’re not making dumb penalties and we’re not turning the ball over, we’re going to be pretty dang good,” Blank said. “That allows us to do a whole lot of things with situational football that we didn’t incorporate today. Once we get down in distance and we’re not killing ourselves, we’re going to be fine.”

School gets out soon and the Pam Pack will get a brief break before getting back to work. Blank said that, as well as the players have taken to the new mentality, nothing they accomplished would have been possible without the coaches.

“As soon as we started the grind in November, I had six or seven coaches here every day,” Blank said. “If there’s anything that makes a difference in any program, it’s the dedication of the assistant coaches.”