Ball State University Athletics
Football Team Spring Practice #14 Report
April 22, 2011 | Football
Ball State's football team had its final practice prior to Saturday's Cardinal and White Scrimmage and head coach Pete Lembo discusses Thursday's workout with the Cardinals' athletics media relations office.
Talk a little about the difference in practicing in pads vs. today's no pads?
You hope there is not a big difference in the mindset and sense of urgency to get better in each of the players. We can get an awful lot done in helmets if we are focused. Today's practice was a little bit heavier in terms of the time commitment to individual positional work, special teams and side of the ball work. We did less pass skeleton and team today than in a normal practice session. Our offense was able to review the two minute drill again and the defense spent time reviewing blitz adjustments against some formations they typically do not see from our offense. When you go against each other in team periods, it is important that each player understands what we mean by "tag" tempo. Essentially, this means we are 3/4 speed up front and the defense should simply tag the ball carrier with two hands. Our backs need to be making moves on defenders rather than lower their shoulder. If everyone is on the same page, we can get quality work done and avoid injuries.
Last practice before the Spring Game, what is the goal for Saturday?
We want to come out and execute. The spring game is the culmination of the last four weeks of work. It gives players a chance to shine in front of their teammates, coaches and the fans. We will have officials on hand, so we can get a sense for who can play within the rules in a scrimmage situation. While we have limited depth in some key positions, we plan to cut it loose and get a lot of plays run. This will give us some good video to evaluate both personnel and the schemes we installed this spring. We will use some of this video for teaching purposes once the players put the pads on again in August. We will have a point scoring system in place for Saturday, so the scrimmage will be competitive on the scoreboard as well.
Practices in spring were about 2 hours and 15 minutes, is that what you are anticipating for the summer and fall?
Practices of that length would be typical on a Tuesday or Wednesday for us once the season gets going. On Thursdays during game week, we shorten it down a bit. During preseason, we sometimes go a little longer on the days where you only get one practice as per NCAA regulations. The practice field is the best place to prepare to be successful on Saturdays. Confidence comes from thorough preparation first and foremost. If we can have strong practice sessions during game weeks, Saturdays will take care of themselves. With just 15 spring practices and 29 sessions prior to the first game, it is critical we take advantage of each opportunity to get better. These are the building blocks that put the foundation in place for the season. Within the body of our practices, you will never see us emphasize a particular area for more than 10 or 15 minutes. It's diminishing returns after that, so we would rather move on to the next item on our checklist. Our coaching staff was pleased with how our players handled the length and flow of the practices this spring.
