NORFOLK, VA (WTKR)- After three months of fanfare, anticipation and excitement,the time for Michael Vick to take the field with his Norfolk State team finally arrived.
Watch full interview: Vick preparing Norfolk State to ‘play at a high level’
The sites and sounds of football filled the air as the Spartans' first spring football practice kicked off at Dick Price Stadium.
"It's more excitement than anything," Vick said after the session concluded. "Not nervousness. I couldn't really sleep last night knowing that [I'm] stepping into a different arena, but stepping into an arena with young men and coaches who are ready to go into battle."
Vick and his staff are looking to turn around a program that finished 4-8 in 2025 and has just nine wins since the start of the 2022 campaign. While many of his players may view him as Michael Vick the football legend, he's trying to reach them as their coach.
"I think they still admire the fact that I played at a high level, but now I'm trying to get them to play at a high level and that's my message each and every day, to try to compete, to try to do things the right way, be disciplined, be consistent, be confident," he noted. "I think they're buying in, so the more they continue to hear me say that and talk to them as a coach, as a confidant, I think they'll respect me a lot more."
"He's just such a cool dude," added quarterback Israel Carter, a transfer from South Florida. "He's real calm, he doesn't get real riled up easily, he just communicates to us more than anything and so that was the biggest thing for the whole team."
"He just walks around very humble and just let's us know, 'let's get to work, we're trying to get to the MEAC championship," linebacker Jaden Kelly said.
The former quarterback has countless football experiences as a player and spent the last eight years as an NFL analyst, but it's well documented that this is his first shot at coaching. He's tried to lean on his staff and listen to those who have been in coaching before, while embracing the support he's getting from his former coaches, teammates and opponents. Leading a team of his own is something he says he's been envisioning for a couple years now.
"The demands surprise me, but I kind of put myself in this position mentally," said Vick. "I've played these scenarios over in my head so I can be comfortable in these environments. Now it's just getting used to the day-to-day and I can only imagine what I'll feel like five months from now."
"It was surreal when he called me on the phone and then getting here and meeting him," added linebacker Khalib Gilmore. "That's a living legend, so everything that comes out of his mouth, I'm trying to write it down and just be a sponge every time I'm around him."
There's still a long way to go for this group in green and gold, but Vick and his new staff have started the process. The head coach feels ready for the challenges ahead and is glad to be off and running.
"It still hasn't hit me, but today was a reality check in terms of we're out here now," Vick noted. "I just told my wife 'I just completed my first spring ball practice' and I never thought I'd be saying that, especially this early in my life."
Norfolk State will hit the field for spring practices approximately three times per week leading up to April 19's Spring Game at Dick Price Stadium.
