Colleges Shun Crash Course in Practice : Workouts: Valley-area schools tend to limit their hitting drills as they prepare for campaigns in football.

The opening days of high school football practice generally are known as “Hell Week,” but for local colleges, the initial sessions might instead be called “Heck Week.”

It’s not necessarily that college practices are less intense, but the tendency among local junior colleges and four-year schools is to avoid the kind of boot-camp, endurance-test mentality typically associated with the preseason.

Cal Lutheran and Occidental begin practice Aug. 24, and are unable to start earlier because of Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference rules that limit teams to 15 days of practice before their first games.

Valley-area junior colleges begin practice Thursday but are prohibited from practicing in pads during the first three days of workouts.

“We’re not trying to beat anybody down,” Pierce Coach Bob Enger said. “We’re trying to teach as much as possible. If they’re too fatigued, they don’t learn.”

With the law of diminishing returns setting in after grueling workouts, Glendale Coach John Cicuto picked up the practice of alternating two-a-day and one-a-day workouts from former San Francisco 49ers Coach Bill Walsh.

“We found out our players are a little more lively with a little more rest,” said Cicuto, who will alternate his workouts until a Sept. 1 scrimmage against Cerritos. Glendale begins the regular season against Pasadena City College on Sept. 8.

At the college level, less hitting generally occurs in practice, which mitigates the pain of preseason to some degree. Unlike high school novices, college players are expected to know the rudiments of hitting.

Antelope Valley Coach Brent Carder puts his team through what he calls “thud” workouts.

“We want them to thud the guy, but we don’t want them to go down,” Carder said. “You have to kind of walk a fence. You could overdo it or do too little.”

Six starters return for Antelope Valley and Carder must whip a large crop of newcomers into a team before a Sept. 1 scrimmage against Santa Barbara City College and the Sept. 8 opener against San Diego City College.

Newcomers make up at least half of the roster of nearly every junior college team each season, and the problem of mixing new talent with returning players is endemic to every program.

Valley puts its new players through a crash course and will spend the first four days of next week in three-a-day workouts. However, even that rigorous schedule will be tempered with a newcomer talent show a week from Friday night.

All of the junior colleges have scheduled scrimmages. On Sept. 1, Moorpark will play San Bernardino, Pierce will face Rio Hondo, and Valley will play host to a three-way scrimmage with Pasadena and El Camino. Ventura will scrimmage Hancock on Aug. 31.

Ventura and Pierce will open a week later against El Camino and East Los Angeles, respectively. Moorpark and Valley have first-week byes. Moorpark will play East Los Angeles on Sept. 15, and Valley will kick off its season Sept. 15 against Mt. San Antonio College.

On Sept. 8, Occidental will play at the University of San Diego, and Cal Lutheran will play at Azusa Pacific.

Thirteen starters return for Occidental, the three-time defending SCIAC champion.

Cal Lutheran expects to return more than 30 lettermen.