MARYVILLE, Mo. - Ahhh, the college life. Sweating in the mid-day sun and trying to decide which is more difficult - hitting your new "textbook" or that 300-pound lineman staring you down from across the line of scrimmage.

Northwest Missouri State's freshmen football players can look forward to all that, with little more than a Powerball play's chance of even seeing the field on game day.

"My head is going 100 miles per hour right now," said running back Quincy Williams, an incoming player from Lee's Summit North.

Williams is doing his best to master a playbook that bears little resemblance to the one from high school. "It's a whole new terminology and everything. The plays are different, the blocking schemes are different, the routes are different - everything is different."

But Williams is one of the lucky ones. He arrived on campus about two weeks ahead of schedule for a little extra conditioning and befriended All-America running back LaRon Council.

"Usually they give out playbooks the first day, but I got lucky and got one from L.C.," he said.

Williams said both pass blocking and run blocking have been huge adjustments for him.

"I didn't have to do too much of that in high school," Williams said. "And I'm 180 pounds, taking on 240-pound linebackers."

Council remembers having his own difficulty making the transition from high school five years ago, getting accustomed to new surroundings, new people and a new offense.

"It's real tough, because (the offense) is so complex, and we're getting more complex every year," Council said.

Council sees one of his duties as a senior leader as taking younger players under his wing, helping them take "baby steps" in both football and college life.

Defensive back Jeff Howeth, who recently arrived at preseason practice from Dallas, said being away from home and its creature comforts is a big adjustment. So, too, is that pesky playbook.

"That whole playbook will get after you," said Howeth, who played at Highland Park High School. "You've got to earn your spurs in doing your stuff."

You won't find the beanies of yesteryear on this bunch of freshman athletes, but at least one tradition remains alive, according to defensive back John Schreck of Maryville.

"The younger guys are encouraged to shave their head," Schreck said, rubbing the stubble that has emerged. "Either you do it or (the upperclassmen) do it for you. I did this myself."

"We give them a hard time, definitely, in the secondary, for the first week or so," senior safety Myles Burnsides said. "But they're all having fun now."

Howeth and Schreck, whom Burnsides is showing the ropes, will use their redshirt year to learn the playbook, get stronger physically and hopefully impress their coach enough to be counted on in the future.

But that will come through actions, not words, Howeth said.

"I'm just out here to shut my mouth, learn what I've got to learn and get my time to play," he said.

Sports reporter Rick Dunaway can be reached at rickd@npgco.com