Forget the dog days of summer. For a college football player, these are the dog days of preseason camp.

Northwest Missouri State coach Mel Tjeerdsma acknowledges that his players are “probably getting a little tired of practice,” but they still have a few more days of drudgery to go before the team switches into game preparation mode.

The Bearcats host Abilene Christian on Aug. 30 in the season opener.

Because they open with a frequent playoff contender, Tjeerdsma has given the first-team defense and first-team offense a bigger challenge this season.

“We’ve gone a little longer with the ones vs. the ones, because we’ve got a younger team,” Tjeerdsma said. “Because we’re going to be facing a team like Abilene Christian, we feel like it’s important to get as good of competition as we can in practice.”

Camp has been progressing smoothly, except for a several injuries that have laid up an offensive lineman, linebacker and now a fullback, Brant Gregg (leg).