Ball State University Athletics
Football Spring Practice #4 Report
March 31, 2012 | Football
Spring Practice No. 4 was the first day in full pads. How does that differ and how do you think the team responded?
The guys came out with a lot of energy this morning. Our meetings were productive and there was good focus on the field throughout the entire session. At the end of individual drills, we had a five minute "Cardinal Combat" session. It's similar to the old school "Oklahoma Drill" that teams have been doing since the beginning of time. It's always a good competitive drill on the first day in full pads. We had three team periods today, including a short "move the ball" scrimmage to conclude practice. The offense had an excellent practice overall and looked to be in midseason form at times. Both of our quarterbacks were very accurate today on a variety of throws. They were aided by some impressive catches by Connor Ryan, Jamill Smith and Aaron Mershman. This is the second day in a row that freshman tailback Horactio Banks has reeled off a long run. He can really scoot. The defense was solid during the third down period. Jeffery Garrett continues to impress at cornerback. Freshman linebacker Ben Ingle and receiver Trey Gardner both made a some nice plays during the pass skeleton periods.
At the end of each practice you have an assistant coach give a scouting report on an opponent. What is the purpose and how does it prepare your players for the 2012 schedule?
With the season still months away, you want all your players to see the big picture and learn a little bit about every challenge on the schedule. Once the summer and preseason roll around, the entire focus will be on Eastern Michigan - our first opponent. So, every spring practice is a "game" against the next opponent on the 2012 schedule. Today was South Florida and Tuesday afternoon will be Kent State. It keeps things interesting and competitive. I also like to create situations for our assistant coaches to be put in a leadership role and have to address the entire team. It helps the players get to know them better and strengthens those relationships. We do quite a bit of leadership training in the offseason and our assistant coaches are also involved in that aspect of the program. We are trying to develop our assistant coaches just as we are trying to develop our student-athletes. Every assistant wants to be a coordinator or a head coach some day. Part of my job is to create scenarios for them to take on more responsibility, prepare and ultimately grow professionally.
You just wrapped up the first week of Spring Practice. What are your overall impressions of how things are going so far?
We have a really solid group of young men excited to be out there and a part of the program. They have a good feel for the routine and the expectations. The vast majority of them are pretty highly motivated. It is good to see some guys trying to step up into leadership roles. We have to keep challenging them and finding out who can handle adversity - on a personal level and on a unit level. We will inevitably have to deal with adversity at some point this fall, so we need to see who can persevere now. The offensive line is a senior laden group, but the rest of the position groups are still youthful. With a few key veteran guys like Barrington Scott, Jordan Hansel and Joel Cox out due to injury, we are getting an opportunity to thoroughly evaluate other less-tested players in team situations. We have a long way to go, but there are enough good signs out there to feel optimistic.
