'Jacks Set To Open Spring Practice Today
3/21/2002 12:00:00 AM | Football
March 21, 2002
The Lumberjack football team will take the field this spring Thursday afternoon around 3:00 p.m. for the first of fifteen planned spring practices. The team will practice Friday and Saturday of this week as well before taking Sunday off.
The spring workouts will culminate with the annual spring game on the evening of April 12, at Homer Bryce Stadium. The team will hold its first scrimmage of the spring, Thursday, March 28.
SFA enters spring practice looking to answer several questions on the offensive side of the ball. The defensive unit returns 9 of 11 starters from a much improved squad a season ago, but the offensive unit will use the 15 workouts to begin answering the question of who will take over for three year starter Wes Pate at quarterback. The coaching staff must also find a candidate to take over at tailback, and get some work for new center Greg Barnum.
Barnum moves from the defensive side of the ball at noseguard for his senior season back to offensive center. Before transferring to SFA from the University of Tennessee, Barnum was the projected starting center as a sophomore for the Volunteers. He has played the past two seasons for the 'Jacks as a defensive lineman, but returns to offense to bolster an offensive line that allowed 38 sacks a year ago.
Three candidates will begin making their case to be the next starting quarterback for the 'Jacks with senior Matt Williford and sophomore Michael Williams the only two QB's in camp who have taken a snap in a college game. Both Williams and Williford saw action last season in SFA's final game of the year against Texas Tech. Joining that duo will be redshirt freshman Zeke Dixon. While the staff doesn't feel they need to know who will be the starter coming out of spring training, they would like to see enough of each of the candidates to begin forming an opinion about a possible starter heading into fall camp in August.
The third major question that must be addressed during spring practices will be the SFA running attack. As a team last season, the 'Jacks rushed for only 1,012 yards, with no one rushing for more than 400 yards for the year. Injuries to two potential starters last August hampered the SFA ground attack and the 'Jacks never found the answer last season.
Thomas Williams, Gary Turner and Eric Chapman all saw action last season at the tailback position with walk-on Eric Chapman ending up leading the team in rushing with 330 yards on 86 carries for the season. Thomas Williams carried the ball only 64 times all year, gaining 250 yards, but averaging 3.9 yards per carry. Turner saw limited action, four carries for -1 yard.
Redshirt freshman Tony Tompkins is also added to the mix this season and could be the spark the 'Jacks need to re-ignite the ground attack. Tompkins was a 1,000-yard rusher at Pt. Arthur's Thomas Jefferson High School, but sat out last season.
If SFA can find answers to these questions, the 2002 season sould be a promising season.
