The Neal Brown era took another step forward on Saturday as the Troy Trojans hit the practice field for the first time during the Fall Camp in preparation for the start of the 2015 season.

Although the team was in just helmets on Saturday, along with shoulder pads on Sunday, the Trojans put it into high gear early and began the Fall Camp with high intensity under the hot summer sun.

The team practiced on Saturday for about an hour and a half to kick off the fall practice schedule.

“The guys were really excited to get out there,” Brown said. “We had a nice day, we had about 30 guys or so have their first practice today. We have some leadership out there. Tyler Roberts on defense I can see him encouraging. I know we have some leadership and some good character guys. We have had some guys do some good things so I think our buy-in factor is high.”

Although Troy has featured an up-tempo offense in the past, this season the Trojans are looking forward to pushing down the gas pedal a little further. The transition period began Saturday morning when Brown had his players running at a high octane pace on the field.

“We go really fast, and then we slow it down for a teaching period where we are kind of jogging or we want to take a break,” Brown said. “We want to be a tempo team, not a tempo offense. As far as lining up (Saturday) I thought we were as good as we were last spring.”

The up-tempo offense provided an extra challenge for the Trojans over the weekend, The Trojans had to adapt to the fast paced practice in the extreme heat of the weekend with its tripple-digit heat index.

“I think they were used to it until school let out about a week ago, and they had some time on their own,” Brown said. “They may have worked out in the air conditioner. It is something we are going to have to deal with. It is going to be hot. I think it’s a mental thing more than anything.”

When it comes to a fast paced offense, communication is key to success when it comes to running a successful offense on the field. On the field communication begins and ends at the quarterback position for Troy.

“I thought Brandon (Silvers) and Dallas Tidwell did a really nice job communicating,” Brown said. “That makes me feel really positive about the work they put in over the summer. They were out here on their own and you can tell they worked on their communication.”

Silvers is entering his sophomore season with the Trojans in hopes of being the guy that Brown and the other members of the coaching staff can lean on to lead the Trojans to victory in 2015.

To do that Silvers will have to adapt and adjust to the new offense brought in by Brown.

“It’s a lot faster pace,” Silvers said. “It’s about the same plays I just have to verbalize it a little different. In any offense communication is very important and everybody has to be on point, if we do that we should be pretty good.”

Troy will continue to hold an open practice throughout this week in preparation for their first inter-squad scrimmage on Saturday morning at 11:00 a.m.