As the sun started to peek over Loudoun County, Virginia, on Sunday, the line to get into the Commanders' first open day of training camp quickly lengthened. At the front of it all was 26-year-old Nick Moore.

"I left my house at 3:30 a.m.," the Chesterfield, Virginia, native said. "I'm just a diehard fan. I wanted to get Jayden Daniels' signature. I wanted to be first in line, just show them that I'm a real fan."

It didn't matter that practice was moved up one hour to start at 8 a.m. on a Sunday. It didn't matter that the Feels Like temperatures in Ashburn were already pushing past the 90s once practice got underway. Washington fans, filled with pride and galvanized by the team's recent momentum, showed up by the thousands on Back Together Sunday to soak in the first bit of football of the 2025 season.

It was a two-way street of fan appreciation on the day as head coach Dan Quinn kicked off Sunday's session with a message to the crowd:

"Last summer, many of you were here on this day when we started training camp, and we didn't know each other yet," Quinn said. "We do now. We are honored to play for you folks. Home field advantage, it doesn't start in September. It starts in July on hot days like today. Let's have a blast today. We want to hear you. We want to feel you. We're so pumped you're here. Let's kick some a** today and have some fun."

Fans of all ages with various journeys to this team brought the noise and had a blast on Back Together Sunday. Eric McKim of Bethesda, Maryland, made the trip out to his first-ever training camp with his two daughters and his dad. They put a pause on their season ticket membership a couple years ago but returned after last year's whirlwind of a run. McKim jumped on the training camp tickets right when their season ticket representative notified him.

"There's a buzz around the team," McKim said. "We wanted to take advantage of coming to show support with the new momentum."

Meanwhile, Rhonda Killmon has been coming to training camps since the team used to host them in Richmond, Virginia. A lifelong fan, she has memories of the Super Bowl wins and is excited to "finally be on the ups again." She's making the most of the trek from Virginia's Eastern Shore and going to four open training camp days.

"It's been a really long time that people are excited … I'm happy to see the fans back," Killmon said. "A lot of other good things I'm looking forward to, new stadium and all these improvements here -- new bubble, new locker room -- it's definitely going in the right direction."

Killmon, who was wearing an Art Monk shirt, knew she had to represent the Hall of Famer on the heels of the announcement weeks ago that his No. 81 will be retired in 2025. From outfits to signs, every fan delivered with their own unique flair to show love to the Burgundy & Gold. One of the notables among the crowd was Prince George's County native Cameron Burden, who toted a very special item around the training camp grounds.

"This is about a 5-foot tall art piece of Jayden Daniels," Burden said pointing to the masterpiece in his wagon. "This is my gift to him actually. I hope that he sees it so I can give it to him."

The chance to perhaps hand-off this handmade token of gratitude is part of the joy of being at training camp for Burden.

"In general, it's just about the experience. It's nice to be out here, to see the team up close and not via a TV like usual, so this is a pretty cool day for me," he said. "I've been a Washington fan my whole life but I'm a super fan now. It started when RGIII came out here for us, obviously we've had some up and down seasons but last year was kind of the exact moment I've been looking for as a fan."

That sentiment is shared by Akin Akinlotan of Woodbridge, Virginia, who was in attendance on "Back Together Sunday" with his wife and 6-year-old daughter. Seeing the turnout is evidence of what he has been feeling over the course of several months: this team is building something exciting that people want to be a part of.

"Man, it [last season] was wonderful," Akinlotan said. "I remember when we were playing Chicago, and they threw the Hail Mary, man, I started crying. It was like back in the day, you have Gary Clark, Ricky Sanders, Art Monk, just throwing the ball deep. It was like bringing it all back. I know we've had some hard times, but it feels different. Look at all the people."