ITHACA, N.Y. -- The painful thoughts of an offseason unlike any other gently dissipated away by overnight rains, and when the sky opened 30 minutes before Saturday's first full team practice on Schoellkopf Field, it seemed almost like a metaphor.

A cleansing, of sorts.

When the clouds parted, the sun came out and baked Schoellkopf Field. When the rains returned 70 minutes later, instead of dampening the practice, they lifted spirits even higher.

Head coach David Archer '05 has been preaching to have an attitude of gratitude throughout the offseason. There were many grateful souls on day one of the 2021 Cornell football camp, and the energy was palpable.
 
Cornell spread out 136 players among three practice sessions on Saturday, kicking off with the freshmen at 11 a.m., allowing them to fully participate in orientation activities. It continued with sessions at 2 p.m. and 3:30 p.m., with crossover between them for special teams work. Breaking into three sessions allowed for maximum reps and individual coaching.

When the first upperclassmen group kicked off at 2 p.m., they did so without pads and limited contact, but with an excitement more than 600 days in the waiting. It's no coincidence that the first group answered the whistle at 2 p.m., which will be the time the Big Red runs out of the tunnel 28 days from now for its season and home opener against No. 17 VMI. With smaller groups, the positional and group drills were crisp and moved quickly, culminating in some light scrimmaging.

While the 2021 season will be memorable for many reasons, the 51 returning seniors will likely point around the room. They all return, after a lost season, for each other. That's part of the reason Cornell is shaking off the predicted eighth-place finish in the Ivy League preseason media poll. The other is that the Big Red is just used to upsetting the apple cart. Five of the past six seasons, Cornell has finished higher than its predicted finish from the scribes, including tying for fourth in 2019 after being picked seventh.

Like any season, Cornell will have plenty of important figures to replace, including All-Ivy players Harold Coles (RB), David Jones (CB) and Jelani Taylor (S) and co-captain George L. Holm III (OL), among others. Unlike any other, there will be nearly two full classes of seniors to provide leadership and step into roles vacant for 18 months.

The Big Red also got its first on-field work with first-year assistant coaches Will Blanden (DB), Jeff Comissiong (LB) and Kashif Moore (RB) and coaching interns Anthony Catalano (defense) and Ryan Swingle (offense).