TIFTON — Anyone who stepped outside Monday afternoon could tell you it felt like a sauna with the hot and steamy conditions.

But that was the same atmosphere the Tift County Blue Devils had to go through as coach Jay Walls’ football team practiced for the first time in full pads.

Even with the conditions, practice “went good,” Walls said.

“It was pretty hot. So we had to deal with the heat. No matter what kind of shape the guys are in, you are going to have some that have problems with the heat, but we had no major issues.”

As is normally the case for a football team, the defense looked sharper than the offense during the first full practice in pads.

“It is kind of early to mention any individual standouts,” Walls said. “The defense is usually ahead of the offense this time of the year and that is the way the practice went. We were frustrated on offense and the defense did ok.”

As far as the conditions for the remainder of this week, the hot and humid weather is one reason Walls is having one of his two-a-day practices late in the evening.

“We are going to practice from 3:30-5:30 every afternoon. We are then going to practice from 8:30-10:30 at night,” Walls said.

That will be the schedule until Wednesday. With Tift County going back to school Friday, the team will only have the one afternoon practice Thursday.

Friday’s practice will then be in a familiar place for the Devils as Tift will have a two-hour scrimmage at Brodie Field, beginning at 7 p.m.

There will be no charge for the event and the public is invited to attend.

“We will probably open up both sides of the stadium for folks that want to come,” said Walls.

Tift will see an actual opponent Aug. 24 when the Southside (Atlanta) Lasers come to Brodie Field for the preseason scrimmage. The Devils will then open the regular season Aug. 31 at Brooks County.