| By
Mike Triplett
Staff writer
The
Saints will have a press conference in Jackson,
Miss., on Thursday morning to announce that they
will hold training camp at Millsaps College, according
to a team source.
The announcement has been expected for several
weeks. Coach Sean Payton joined team owner Tom
Benson, General Manager Mickey Loomis and other
Saints executives on a tour of Millsaps' campus
May 18 to work out the logistics.
The
Saints are planning to open camp July 27 and remain
in Jackson until their exhibition game against
the Indianapolis Colts at Mississippi Veterans
Memorial Stadium on Aug. 26. Then they will return
to their practice facility in Metairie.
Jackson
will be the 10th training camp site in the Saints'
40-year history, joining Metairie, Thibodaux,
Ruston, Hammond, San Diego, Bowling Green, Ohio;
Hattiesburg, Miss.; Vero Beach, Fla.; and LaCrosse,
Wis. The Saints have held training camp in Metairie
for the past three years.
In
recent years, NFL teams have decided to stay home
for training camp, but Payton prefers going away
for a month to build team focus and camaraderie.
"The
idea that you're going to leave families and go
somewhere for a certain number of weeks to work
on one thing, it's somewhat fundamental I guess,"
Payton said last month. "I think it's beneficial
from the standpoint that it develops closeness,
a little bit of team. And the sacrifices that
we ask them to make, we're all making.
"So
the idea of just getting your dorm key, putting
it on your shoelace or around your neck and going
away for however many weeks is somewhat appealing."
Millsaps
is a Division III school with an enrollment of
about 11,500 students. The school is located north
of Jackson and adjacent to Mississippi Veterans
Memorial Stadium.
Millsaps
has never hosted an NFL training camp, but the
campus offers everything the Saints need, including
natural grass fields and a Sprinturf field similar
to what is used in the Superdome.
There
is no indoor practice facility, but the Saints
could use a gymnasium during inclement weather.
Millsaps'
football team, coached by former Alabama coach
Mike DuBose, will report for practice in mid-August
but will work around the Saints' schedule as necessary.
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