As the sun shone brightly on another year of Eagles training camp at Lehigh University, so did the players in front of thousands of fans. The spotlight was on the usual suspects.. Michael Vick, Desean Jackson and LeSean McCoy.
But fans were also out to scope the new class of highly touted rookies, like QB Nick Foles from Arizona, Chris Polk, running back from Washington, and from Marshall, Vinny Curry at defensive end.
"The faster their learning process is, the better our team will be because there's a lot of guys with talent. Usually it takes a year to get acclimated to this game but if they can pull off a Desean Jackson and be ready when they come in, it'd be great for our team," Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver Jason Avant said.
There's always added pressure playing as an Eagle, even in a non-game situation like camp but the affection towards the players doesn't go unnoticed.
"It shows how much of a die hard Eagles fans are just to see us walk through," said cornerback, Joselio Hanson.
Despite their 5 and 1 division record, the 2011 season was disappointing for the Eagles.. It left a lot of room for improvement for this season. There's been chatter in the off-season how the Eagles have all the makings of a championship team.. Now it's just a matter of all the pieces falling into place.
Hanson continued, "We have to prove it on the field. We were picked last year too so we gotta go out there and perform. And we don't wanna look stupid."
"We definitely do but initially it's a lot of talented teams that have their own goals so we can't take it like that. It's playing right, right at the right time in order to be successful and that's the type of mindset that we have. No ones gonna give us anything, we gotta go out and work towards championships and not on paper but there on the field," said Avant.