FORT MYERS — The Eagles almost flew through FGCU coach Joe Dooley’s infamous boot camp last week.
When Dooley arrived three and a half years ago, his inherited group and newbies struggled mightily.
Not this time around. There’s even a clip from boot camp at fgcuathletics.com and you can see the Eagles actually smiling at times over their sweat-soaked bodies.
“We had a good week,” Dooley said. “I think the guys made some progress. The guys, for the most part, had good energy and we were able to get some stuff out of it.”
A big part of that is because the Eagles got 10 real-deal practices before winning three games in the Bahamas against local professional collections in early August.
“We’re in better shape than we’ve been,” Dooley said. “The trip helped us, going to Atlantis and being able to practice. The guys have been in the gym a lot more and played a lot more basketball in the offseason.”
Even the two true freshmen — 6-5 shooting guard Christian Carlyle of Jacksonville-Kenny and 6-7 forward RaySean Scott of Compton, California — were a hit during boot camp.
“Christian Carlyle is very competitive and nothing that he does really surprises me from an energy and effort standpoint,” Dooley said. “His attention to detail and his preparedness is very good.
“RaySean did very good. I was pleasantly surprised. I really didn’t know what to expect from RaySean, but he managed to get through it and made all his times.”
FGCU gets back to full-bore practices on Friday. Division I teams can practice 30 times in the 42 days leading to the season tip, which for the Eagles is against Florida in Jacksonville’s Veterans Memorial Arena on Nov. 11 at 7:30 p.m.
THIS team vs. the Gators on a neutral floor? We can hardly wait.
Stay tuned.
Dana Caldwell is the Daily News beat writer for Florida Gulf Coast University athletics and can be followed on Twitter at @NDN_DCaldwell