MUNCIE, Ind. — No weight room? No worries.

A group of Ball State football players solved their current lock up dilemma, starting with a trip to the country.

“We’re out at (senior fullback Cody) Rudy’s farm one day,” explains senior offensive lineman Anthony Todd, “and his grandpa said, ‘I have tractor tires you guys could do stuff with.’ We’re like, ‘Load ’em up!'”

“We started looking around, saying ‘Oh, we can use that to workout,'” remembers Rudy. “Next thing you know, we came back with a bed loaded down with different tires and sledgehammers and things to lift.”

What started as a farm workout evolved with a little college life added into the plan.

“As we’ve gone on, we’ve added more and more to it,” continued Todd. “It’s become a little more advanced and mixed up. We had an old keg in our basement, a speaker, a foam roller and like a 40-pound med ball.”

“It’s a big test,” added senior o-lineman Curtis Blackwell, “but everybody’s kind of in the same situation. We’re trying to make the best of it.”

To make the best of an unprecedented situation, these Cardinals are uniting around a mantra.

“Our (team) motto is ‘Out the mud,’ and there’s no more mud than this,” said Blackwell with a smile. “We’re trying to make due with what we got, get some good work in each and every day, and keep our goals in mind of what we want to get accomplished this season.”

There’s been no pause in preparing for that coming season, even if a few revisions must be executed along the way.

“The grind keeps continuing,” says Blackwell. “Even if we’re not together, it’s still continuing.”