CARLISLE, Pa. -- Washington Redskins camp wasn't the place for Deion Sanders. Camp Marty Schottenheimer assembled his new football team a half hour before Monday's 8:30 a.m. practice start and let the hitting begin.

The scene was vintage Schottenheimer, an old school coach returning to show that fundamentals and live contact turn teams into winners. As he did with the Chiefs, Schottenheimer let hundreds of Redskins fans rush to the field to circle around a reenactment of the old Oklahoma drill. That's when a defender goes through a blocker to tackle a running back.

	Donovan Greer (25) and Darrell Green (26) tackle a drill during Camp Schottenheimer.

"Deion probably would have said, 'I hope they don't ask me to do that,' " cornerback Darrell Green said.

Absolutely. Schottenheimer had the 41-year-old Green participate in addition to dusting off his punt-returning skills. Three scuffles broke out, including extracurricular activities between 38-year-old Bruce Smith and 23-year-old fullback Bryan Johnson.

"I've never done an Oklahoma drill," Smith said before thinking back to maybe one or two he did in college. "I think it might be a little outdated, but different coaches have different ways of going about things."

Schottenheimer is old school and he's proud of it. His camps usually open with one set of Oklahomas. Watching the response of the Redskins let's you know why. Defenders slammed into each other with celebratory chest bumps after huge hits. In the afternoon practice, virtually every linebacker, particularly LaVar Arrington and Keith Mitchell leveled offensive players with clean, fair hits. As the Oklahoma drill proceeded, Schottenheimer moved the bags closer together to tighten up the impact.

"We had an opportunity to get a little contact work in, and that's the way the game is played," the devilish Schottenheimer said. "What this drill does is basic football -- blocking, tackling and running. This drill is basically designed to take a look at a guy's ability to create leverage and finish blocks. It's essentially an offensive drill, but defensively, guys were making good contact."

Fundamentals. That's Schottenheimer. He believes attention to the little things make winners. By the 45-minute mark of practice, Schottenheimer scolded a group of offensive players for not moving together in sync in a timing drill.

"That's the last time I'm going to say it," he told the players. "That's why we got you out here early."

He'll have 24 padded practices in three-and-a-half weeks. The environment was far different from the years of Norv Turner, who ran a more cerebral camp that didn't stress as much hitting. Given full control of the football operations by owner Dan Snyder, Schottenheimer uprooted the team from Redskins Park where fans were charged $10 to loiter through a maze of small carnival tents and souvenir stands to watch practice.

The Redskins are back to their roots, practicing in their 32-year summer home in Carlisle, Pa., the place in which George Allen turned aging players into winners and Joe Gibbs molded Super Bowl champs.

"There's lots of great memories here," Green said. "At least in our days, all the great championships came through here."

Few coaches have been as consistently successful as Schottenheimer, who had a 145-85-1 record in 15 seasons with the Browns and Chiefs. His teams have never finished lower than third. Attention to detail is stressed at camp. At one point, Schottenheimer gave punt-return pointers to Green, one of the greatest in the history of football.

His biggest problem with the Redskins is that there isn't enough Redskins. Only 29 players are still around from last year's team. Think about it for a second. The Packers are proud they are returning a league-high 23 of 24 starters, including kickers. The Redskins, who will have around 10 new starters, have only 29 players left from last year's 53-man roster.

	“	We came in with the idea we had to make changes. A lot of those new players on the roster are young. That's life in the NFL. You have to get younger. ”
		— Marty Schottenheimer, Redskins head coach

The list of 29 includes bit players on last year's team such as Delbert Cowsette, Zeron Flemister and Joshua Symonette. Like the Saints a year ago, the Redskins are on pace to have around 30 new players on their roster. That change worked for the Saints because of additions such as quarterbacks Aaron Brooks and Jeff Blake, defensive linemen Norman Hand and Darren Howard and wide receiver Joe Horn.

"We came in with the idea we had to make changes," Schottenheimer said. "A lot of those new players on the roster are young. That's life in the NFL. You have to get younger. There are some good players here -- Stephen Davis, Jon Jansen, Marco Coleman and others. We have young linebackers who show quite a bit of speed. Today, that's what defense is all about."

The delicate balance that Schottenheimer will have to toy with is whether his intense camp doesn't whittle the thin list of returning players. "We're not real deep, particularly in some areas," he said.

"I don't mind the physicality of a training camp," Smith said. "That doesn't bother me. Mentally, I've been prepared for this for many, many years. It's a matter of being smart, realizing you have seasoned veterans."

Because there are so few remaining Redskins from last year, Schottenheimer's first-year success will also depend on the development of his first crop of signings. He's brought in a long list of low-cost veterans -- running back Donnell Bennett, offensive lineman Matt Campbell and Ben Coleman, wide receiver Kevin Lockett, linebacker Robert Jones, special teams star Michael Bates and cornerback Donovan Greer. He'll tweak the roster throughout camp.

On Monday, Schottenheimer signed former Bengals defensive lineman Michael Bankston and then signed halfback Ki-Jana Carter.

"I think we have a great mixture," Smith said. "We only have two grandfather type individuals (Green and Smith). We have a few guys in their ninth, 10th and 11th seasons. We have a great mixture. We're a very talented football team. Under the direct leadership that Marty can provide, we're going to expect big things."

Redskins veterans learned Monday that the little things will involve a lot of hitting. "I insist that we don't let anything slide because it invalidates what we are trying to accomplish," Schottenheimer said.

Schottenheimer told the team that the best 53 players won't make the team. The 53 will be the ones who want to be a Redskin the most.

John Clayton is a senior NFL writer for ESPN.com.