Spring Football Enters First Full Week
3/24/2014 12:00:00 AM | Football
March 24, 2014
NACOGDOCHES, Texas – Stephen F. Austin began the first full week of spring football practices Monday afternoon, going through a 21-period practice session on the grass practice fields behind the SFA Fieldhouse.
It marked the first time this spring the Lumberjacks went with shells (helmet and shoulder pads) after wearing helmets and shorts through the first two practices of the spring season, held this past Friday and Saturday.
Following the conclusion of today’s practice session, SFAJacks.com met with first year head coach Clint Conque to gauge where the ‘Jacks were with three spring practice sessions in the books.
On what the focus has been through the first three spring practices:
“Right now the main focus has been on the teaching and the installation of our schemes. The other thing has been getting the players to understand the tempo that we are going to practice and instilling that sense of urgency. I really believe they are buying into it and we’re getting a lot of work done. We’re rotating a bunch of players so you’re going to see some good and some bad. Today was the first day we put the pads on, so it presented a new teaching moment and learning opportunity for our players to get them how we want them to practice. We have to get our work in but we still have to protect each other, and with the limited numbers that we have, as well as players having to leave early with class conflicts, it presents a challenge. But there is no lack of effort or enthusiasm, and we’ve seem some quality play at certain positions.”
On how the players have gelled with the new coaching staff:
“I really like the way they are attacking each meeting with their respective coaches. There are only a certain number of routes and coverages in the playbook for wide receivers and defensive backs, but it’s just a matter of those young men learning our terminology and our way of doing things. Once they do, they will learn how to play fast, and if they are playing fast that means they are playing with confidence. If they make a mistake going full speed, it gives a learning opportunity for our coaches to teach off of. But I’ve been very pleased with the retention as well as the learning curve these young men have shown. I think the work we did in our 6 a.m. workouts carried over and has helped get this team up to speed.”
On how the off-field workouts and meetings have paid off:
“No question it’s paid off. They’ve probably had 10-12 sessions of voluntary 7-on-7 sessions in the evenings and our players have been able to coach each other up. They’ve done a tremendous job of getting themselves ready and focused on their own and now we’ve just got to put that all together on both sides of the ball and continue to install the various aspects of our gameplan.”
On Wednesday night’s first full-pad practice:
“The first two days out here, you’re pretty much playing basketball and flag football with not a lot of contact. Today we were able to thump it up a little bit (with shells) and get a little bit of contact into the mix. Wednesday night we’ll probably take it to another level and have a full live session in that practice. Anytime we go to the stadium at night under the lights, it ought to feel special, and certainly I hope that’s the attitude we get from our young men on practice four.”
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SFA’s Wednesday night practice will get underway at 8 p.m. under the lights at Homer Bryce Stadium. Stay tuned to SFAJacks.com for full coverage of the ‘Jacks’ spring football schedule, leading up to the 2014 Spring Game on Saturday, April 12th, at 6:30 p.m.
2014 SFA Spring Football Schedule
Wednesday, March 26 – 8 p.m. (full pads)
Friday, March 28 – 4 p.m. (shells)
Saturday, March 29 – 4 p.m. (scrimmage one)
Monday, March 31 – 4 p.m. (shells)
Wednesday, April 2 – 8 p.m. (full pads)
Friday, April 4 – 4 p.m. (shells)
Sunday, April 6 – 4 p.m. (scrimmage two)
Monday, April 7 – 4 p.m. (shells)
Wednesday, April 9 – 8 p.m. (full pads)
Thursday, April 10 – 4 p.m. (shells)
Friday, April 11 – 4 p.m. (helmets)
Saturday, April 12 – 6:30 p.m. (spring game)
-SFA-
