It took all of five minutes after players emerged from the facility July 26 at the official opening of Browns training camp in Berea for the ‘here we go Brownies’ chant to commence.
It took even less time for optimism to abound among the traveling contingent who wanted to catch their first glimpse of Johnny Manziel – and perhaps the other 87 Browns who took the field as well.
Photo gallery from today’s practice
Among the sea of orange and brown on the west side of the training complex was Zach Carnovale of Perry Township, taking in a return drill in the opening minutes of camp.
‘I’m pretty excited,’ Carnovale said. ‘It’s going to be a good day today – nice and warm. I can’t wait to see the players.’
Particularly one – ‘Johnny Football,’ Carnovale said with a smile.
‘I want to see how he does against the defense, see if he can make some nice passes, run around a little bit.’
For Jeremy Kline, a Browns fan who traveled to western Cuyahoga County all the way from Wooster, he has been coming to training camp for nearly a decade. He has never seen quite the energy, though, displayed by an estimated crowd of 4,000 who all registered to attend camp on the Browns’ website.
‘I was surprised it’s packed like this,’ Kline said. ‘I’ve been coming about seven or eight years and not (seen) a crowd like this before. It’s pretty nice.’
Kline wanted his own glimpse of Manziel, the highly touted rookie quarterback and Heisman Trophy winner from Texas A&M. But there were several other areas which were likely to catch his attention.
‘I was just kind of wondering how the offense was going to do today,’ Kline said. ‘The defense looks pretty upgraded.
‘I hope they don’t start Johnny Manziel too soon. I’m hoping Brian Hoyer stays strong and does well. I think they’ll do all right.’
Such is the optimism normally found in Northeast Ohio for the start of Browns training camp – regardless of whether it takes five minutes or less to culminate.
‘It’s a great day. It’s awesome,’ Carnovale said. ‘I think they said 4,000 people are going to be here. It’s going to be a good day.’
