There’s much consternation among Broncos fans as the preseason rolls on concerning the seating capacity at practice.

Yes, at practice.

With major renovations underway at Broncos Park Powered by CommonSpirit, fans are limited to 800 in endzone bleachers for training camp practices. The grass berm, which could accommodate 3,000, has been dug up as part of the construction.

That’s a lot of fans for practice. Certainly a lot more than were at practice in the summer of 1979, when I was a regular. For some sessions, it may have been just me.

The Broncos were training at Colorado State University in Fort Collins. I was a student taking summer semester classes. My dormitory was a very short walk from the practice fields, so I made a habit of taking my books with me, sitting on the cool grass, and studying while the players competed for a job.

We rare few who attended training camp back then were particularly interested in the play of the rookies. Denver’s 1979 draft class was a who’s who of who cares.

First-round pick Kelvin Clark -played just three years in Denver and started only eight games. Third-rounder Bruce Radford never started a game in Denver and was waived after his rookie year. Neither fourth rounder Charles Jefferson nor sixth rounder Jeff McIntyre made it out of training camp as both were cut. Fifth rounder Rick Leach never made it to training camp, opting instead for a career in baseball.

The only draftee in 1979 to make an impact was punter Luke Prestridge, who was taken in the seventh round. He lasted five years with the team.

While the draft class foundered, a tall, skinny rookie was turning heads, making catch after catch. Steve Watson went undrafted out of Temple but became one of the team’s all-time great receivers during his nine-year career.

Another undrafted free agent from the 1979 class was Jim Ryan, who played 10 seasons for the Broncos and was a starter in seven of those. Quarterback Fred Mortensen was also sharp during that camp but was eventually cut. He later emerged as a solid QB for the Denver Gold in the United States Football League.

Tackle Dave Studdard was also a rookie in 1979. He had been drafted in 1978 by the Baltimore Colts but had been cut in training camp. In Denver, he started as a rookie and anchored the offensive line for the next 10 years.

In each case, even a casual observer like me could see these guys were special. They had something that the other guys lacked. They stood out.

And I’ll always remember watching them from a hillside with a textbook on my lap.