When he took questions from the campers, he got several about his long hair that he has not cut in months to set himself apart from others. Even Boyle coach Larry French took several playful jabs at Aumiller about his hair.
One camper wanted to know why academics were so important if he “was only going to play football” in college like Aumiller was.
“You have to make good grades or you will not be eligible to play and football doesn’t last forever,” Aumiller said.
He also told them how playing Southeastern Conference football was harder than many imagined.
“It’s a lot of fun, but it is a lot of work. Everything you do is connected with football almost,” Aumiller said. “You’ve got to be dedicated. You have to give your all all the time or you will be on the bench and not see the field. Not everybody is as athletic as some, so you’ve got to be willing to outwork others to play and succeed.
“My dad played football at Penn State. This is something I’ve always wanted to do and was willing to work to do. But it’s not nearly as easy or always as much fun as you might think. It really is a job.”
Here are other insights on himself and UK¿he shared:
Question: How are your shoulders doing since you were bothered most of last season by a sore shoulder as well as your senior season at Boyle County?
Aumiller: “They are doing really good. I am a lot stronger than I was during the season. I made progress. I have been working out really hard, especially over the four weeks we had off after spring practice when I worked out on my own. Now that we are back in football, and I am working out with (strength) coach Rock (Oliver) it is even better.”
Question: Are you back 100 percent then?
Aumiller: “I think so. We do a lot of shoulder exercises that help, so I feel like I am back 100 percent. I first hurt my shoulder even before the (season-opening) Louisville game (last season) and it bothered me all year. In the spring it did not bother me too much and I¿am hoping it will be all good next year.”
Question: Have summer workouts started?
Aumiller: “We started workouts last Monday with organized times with coach Rock in the weight room. We are lifting four times each week and running two times. Working a lot of speed stuff and some new exercises that are helping a lot.”
Question: Are the sessions with Oliver as bad as some players make them out to be?
Aumiller: “No. He is not as bad as some say. In my group, we have mostly the skill positions. That is a lot of important guys on the team, so he is not as hard on us. He has expectations and we know what he expects out of us, so we just go in there and listen to music and work out.”
Question: Is junior quarterback Morgan Newton taking charge of the offseason workouts the way a team leader should?
Aumiller: “It is good. We do seven-on-seven and do route reads and stuff like that. He is coming along and getting better, but so is everybody. He’s working hard.”
Question: How good do you think the offense will be next season considering the key players lost to graduation off last year’s team?
Aumiller: “Our offensive line has everybody back, and that’s pretty much the most important part of the offense. If you can’t block for the running game or protect the quarterback, you can’t do anything. I think we should be able to establish the running game, use play-action passes and take advantage of Morgan’s ability.”
Question: Have you had much contact with the incoming freshmen?
Aumiller: “They work out at a different time than I do and have class in the evening. I really have not gotten to see any of them that much. But a few I did see running routes, they are smaller receivers but they are really fast. That should help.”
Question: Any special summer plans for you?
Aumiller: “Just work out during the week and then relax and go to the lake or whatever on weekends. Nothing special.”
