The Washington Redskins officially have a new training camp home.

The Richmond City Council late last night unanimously approved a motion that will see the Redskins’ training camp move from its Ashburn, Va., headquarters to Richmond, Va., effective next summer.

In doing so, Bon Secours Richmond Health System has officially become the major Redskins training camp sponsor of the new site, which sits on 17 acres off Leigh Street behind the Science Museum of Virginia.

The Bon Secours Redskins Training Center will feature two brand new practice fields, a drills field, a state-of-the-art Fieldhouse and sports medicine facility, as well as plenty of room for fans.

Here’s a video from last night’s City Council meeting, which includes input from several Richmond residents about the positive impact the Redskins’ training camp will bring to their city, as well as some comments from Redskins general manager Bruce Allen, who was asked about the Washington Redskins Charitable Foundation and what having training camp will mean to Richmond:

Moving training camp to the City of Richmond, Va., next summer is far more than a football decision for the Washington Redskins.

By moving training camp from rural Redskins Park in Loudoun County into an urban area like Richmond, the Redskins players can become role models for thousands of area children who are expected to flock to the new Bon Secours Redskins Training Center for summers to come.

The team and the city announced today that Richmond’s Leigh Street, just behind the Virginia Science Museum, will be the new training camp home for the Washington Redskins. Construction of the Redskins practice fields and a state-of-the-art Fieldhouse and sports medicine facility is expected to begin very soon.

“We have to be very thankful for the leadership of [Virginia] Gov. [Robert] McDonnell and [Richmond] Mayor [Dwight] Jones for putting together this type of program that we feel is going to help not only the Washington Redskins and our wonderful fans throughout the Commonwealth, but all the kids in this area,” Redskins general manager Bruce Allen said at a Monday afternoon press conference at the Leigh Street site. “We can help kids in this area by having them see our role-model players.”

Both Allen and Jones said they believe that when all construction is done by next summer, the new Redskins training camp home will be something other NFL teams will try to mimic.

“We have a bold and exciting plan to put Richmond on the map with one of the most state-of-the-art NFL training camp facilities in the entire country,” Jones said. “This is going to be a first-class facility that will not only offer professional-level playing fields, but it’s also going to incorporate health and wellness services that will be provided by Bon Secours. We’re also really excited about the synergy of partnering with the Science Museum of Virginia, and that synergy is going to promote educational concepts of athletics, wellness and science to the community.”

“We’re very excited,” Allen said. “We do believe that this will be the model that all NFL teams will follow in the future.”

Whether other NFL teams come calling for the floor plans or not is yet to be seen, but Allen reiterated how important the Redskins’ new training camp home will be to the local community.

“When young men and young women meet a player at a training camp, it can change their lives,” he said. “We’re looking forward to doing that.”

Here’s some photos from today’s press conference in Richmond:

Tuesday’s training camp practice at Redskins Park was the last one that will be open to the public for the 2012 season.

It was also the last official day of training camp that will be held at the Ashburn, Va., facility for at least the next few years.

The team announced in June that it will be relocating its training camp to Richmond, Va., which is about a 2-hour, 15-minute drive south along Interstate 95 from their Ashburn facility.

So although it will not be a major move hours and hours away, Tuesday’s practice meant a little something extra to many Redskins fans who have, in essence, grown up watching training camp at Redskins Park.

It was also bittersweet for the players, like veteran linebacker London Fletcher, who looks forward to the move.

Here’s a video of some of those fans expressing their thoughts about the move — including one who traveled 2,200 miles to attend Tuesday’s practice, as well as a Redskins legend giving his thoughts on the move to Richmond:

Special thanks to our intern, Mackenzie Rivers, for collecting these clips.

Question: What do you think about the move to Richmond for training camp? Will you be attending? Why or why not? Feel free to answer in the comments section below.

Well ‘Skins fans, it’s been fun. I’ve enjoyed writing to you all about our team’s training camp and being able to answer some of your questions along the way.

This will be my last blog entry, so I think it is appropriate that I thank all of you for your continued support.

When I was drafted by the Redskins in April of 2011, I was taken aback by the fan base this team has. Right after the draft, my Twitter feed was blowing up with fans telling me they were excited to have me on their team. It was awesome.

(AP photo)

People often ask me what was my “Welcome to the NFL moment?” and it would have to be all of the love I received from Redskins fans across the country when I got drafted. It was quite humbling to know that I was coming to a fan base that cared so deeply about its team.

When I arrived in Ashburn last season, I got my first taste of the Redskins’ faithful firsthand, and you all did not disappoint. I could not believe how many people showed up for practice each day. It was surreal to see such passionate fans.

Having all of you out there everyday cheering us on made me want to play harder and harder. Although the season didn’t turn out how we wanted it to, there is no other team I would rather have played for last season and you fans are a major part of that reason. You guys never gave up on us and kept supporting each week.

Throughout this year’s training camp, you all have been nothing short of awesome again. I can tell you all are as fired up for a great season as we are in the locker room!

This team can do great things and we plan on making big things happen this year. But we’re going to need your guys’ support each week, and I wouldn’t expect anything less from the BEST fan base in the NFL.

Thanks again for all of the support! Let’s make this a BIG year.

HTTR!

Here it is, folks. The grand finale. The final training camp video of the 2012 season for the Redskins Blog.

And of course we had to leave you with the quarterbacks.
Rex Grossman had a strong practice Tuesday — as did rookie Kirk Cousins — and opened things up doing drill work with his receivers:

With that, we move away from the training camp videos. I hope they gave you a little better look into the Redskins as they prepare for the 2012 season.

We’ll certainly be back with more practice videos as they become available.

Santana Moss certainly had the play of the day in today’s final day of Training Camp: 2012, breaking free down the sidelines for a touchdow pass from Robert Griffin III as time expired and practice ended.

Prior to that catch, Moss and the rest of his receiver teammates were working on their fundamentals.

Here’s the second-to-last video from today’s practice:

Our look at the final day of Training Camp: 2012 continues with a look at the Redskins’ running backs.

Today was the first time I’ve noticed that the backs were practicing against a red dummy — which is a common tool for the linemen and the linebackers.

It appeared that the running backs were utilizing the dummy to work on a chip move — briefly knocking their defender off their path to the quarterback — before they run out for a route.

Here’s the video:

It’s a somber day here for the Redskins Blog, as today’s practice indicates the final day for our famous training camp videos.

Tuesday marked the 14th and final Training Camp: 2012 practice day, and it was another hot one in Ashburn, Va.

We’ll open the final series of training camp videos with a look at the offensive line, which we caught working on some run-blocking schemes:

The Washington Redskins’ defensive backs opened up practice Monday with a different drill than usual.

They lined up on either side of three dummies — one of which had a football — and worked on getting through the line and stripping the ball.

This particular ball-hawking drill was led by defensive line coach Jacob Burney.

Obviously, one of the goals of any defensive player is to get the ball back to his offense as quickly as possible, so it’s good to see the secondary working on this drill:

Our series of videos from Monday’s training camp practice continue with a look at the team’s quarterbacks and wide receivers going through drills.

That connection between the QBs and receivers will be even more important Saturday, when the Redskins take on the Chicago Bears, who boast one of the best overall defenses in the league.

Here’s the video of Monday’s drill work: