Photo by: Hardy Meredith | SFA Photography
Lumberjack Football Wraps up Spring with Showcase Practice Saturday inside Homer Bryce Stadium
4/21/2018 6:12:00 PM | Football
SFA football hosted its 14th and final practice of the spring Saturday afternoon, now enters offseason
NACOGDOCHES, Texas – On a rainy Saturday afternoon in Texas' oldest town, the Stephen F. Austin football team took to the turf of Homer Bryce Stadium for its final spring practice in a showcase workout with over 125 recruits, in addition to 2018 signees, in attendance. With heavy rain and a strong potential for thunderstorms forecasted Saturday night, the Lumberjacks' annual Purple and White Spring Game was canceled as SFA elected to conduct a showcased 14th practice to complete its spring football schedule.
"I thought today went really, really well," head coach Clint Conque said following the showcase practice No. 14. "I was really proud of our players because today was kind of a dress rehearsal, we really didn't go live. I thought for the most part our players took care of each other, the attitude was good, energy was good and we got a lot of work done. We stayed off the ground for the most part, competed well and finished the spring with some growth. It was a good way to finish the spring with around 130-140 high school juniors and a lot of our signees and non-scholarship players here on campus to watch. Everyone that practiced today stayed healthy, and it was overall just a really good way to end the spring season."
The final practice of spring college football in Nacogdoches took place with off and on rain, followed by downpours late and lasted approximately an hour and 15 minutes. Competing against one another in full pads, the 'Jacks wrapped up four weeks of spring workouts. Saturday's practice represented the fourth of SFA's final week of spring football after the 'Jacks had taken to Homer Bryce for workweek practices Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
"I thought the players brought the right attitudes, energy, and effort every day, and I thought our coaches did too," commented coach Conque on SFA's 14 spring football practices. "Several of the new additions that we've made to our program have really set a standard of relentless work effort. We needed an infusion of that, so I thought that attitude was infectious and carried throughout our football team this spring."
"A lot of people are getting away from a spring game and going to more of what we did today, a practice showcase, I think that's the way to go in the future," continued coach Conque. "We anticipate getting everyone back healthy and once we have our 20-something scholarship guys join us this summer we'll start building up team chemistry so that we can be a title contender next year, which is always our goal."
The SFA football team will not see an on-field workout with coaches for the remainder of the spring semester, but will pick things back up with summer workouts as the next step to the 2018 season quest.
"As I told the young men today, this just finishes one part of the process," Conque added. "The on-field part is complete for now but obviously the work is not done, we're going to go back into our offseason training program here for the next few weeks. We've got to full-court press academics, get some of those young men that couldn't go today back in the training room and healthy. We aim to start again in June with none or very few of these young men needing any sort of modification to their summer training. Over the next six weeks that's the goal for about a dozen of our players right now. I'm confident that we'll get there, I'm very excited about the group we have right now and the ones that will be joining us this summer."
The 'Jacks return a total of 23 starters from last season, including 11 with starting experience on the offensive side of the ball, nine on defense and three specialists. A total of 45 letter winners return for SFA's 2018 campaign, including four 2017 All-Southland Conference selections. The 'Jacks will also have 37 newcomers on its squad come this fall, including 14 who were already with the team during spring workouts.
For the second consecutive season the 'Jacks are set to take on six teams from the Lone Star State this fall. Eight of SFA's 11 games in 2018 will be played on Texas soil, five of which will be held at Homer Bryce Stadium. The Lumberjacks' season will begin on Saturday, Sept. 1 when SFA heads to Starkville, Mississippi, to take on Southeastern Conference stalwart Mississippi State. The 'Jacks will host NCAA Division II Tarleton State for their home opener Saturday, Sept. 8 at 6 p.m.
Stay tuned to SFAJacks.com, as well as SFA's social media platforms – Twitter (@SFA_Football), Facebook (@SFAFootball) and Instagram (@sfa_football) – for complete coverage of Lumberjack football throughout the offseason.
-SFA-
"I thought today went really, really well," head coach Clint Conque said following the showcase practice No. 14. "I was really proud of our players because today was kind of a dress rehearsal, we really didn't go live. I thought for the most part our players took care of each other, the attitude was good, energy was good and we got a lot of work done. We stayed off the ground for the most part, competed well and finished the spring with some growth. It was a good way to finish the spring with around 130-140 high school juniors and a lot of our signees and non-scholarship players here on campus to watch. Everyone that practiced today stayed healthy, and it was overall just a really good way to end the spring season."
The final practice of spring college football in Nacogdoches took place with off and on rain, followed by downpours late and lasted approximately an hour and 15 minutes. Competing against one another in full pads, the 'Jacks wrapped up four weeks of spring workouts. Saturday's practice represented the fourth of SFA's final week of spring football after the 'Jacks had taken to Homer Bryce for workweek practices Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
"I thought the players brought the right attitudes, energy, and effort every day, and I thought our coaches did too," commented coach Conque on SFA's 14 spring football practices. "Several of the new additions that we've made to our program have really set a standard of relentless work effort. We needed an infusion of that, so I thought that attitude was infectious and carried throughout our football team this spring."
"A lot of people are getting away from a spring game and going to more of what we did today, a practice showcase, I think that's the way to go in the future," continued coach Conque. "We anticipate getting everyone back healthy and once we have our 20-something scholarship guys join us this summer we'll start building up team chemistry so that we can be a title contender next year, which is always our goal."
The SFA football team will not see an on-field workout with coaches for the remainder of the spring semester, but will pick things back up with summer workouts as the next step to the 2018 season quest.
"As I told the young men today, this just finishes one part of the process," Conque added. "The on-field part is complete for now but obviously the work is not done, we're going to go back into our offseason training program here for the next few weeks. We've got to full-court press academics, get some of those young men that couldn't go today back in the training room and healthy. We aim to start again in June with none or very few of these young men needing any sort of modification to their summer training. Over the next six weeks that's the goal for about a dozen of our players right now. I'm confident that we'll get there, I'm very excited about the group we have right now and the ones that will be joining us this summer."
The 'Jacks return a total of 23 starters from last season, including 11 with starting experience on the offensive side of the ball, nine on defense and three specialists. A total of 45 letter winners return for SFA's 2018 campaign, including four 2017 All-Southland Conference selections. The 'Jacks will also have 37 newcomers on its squad come this fall, including 14 who were already with the team during spring workouts.
For the second consecutive season the 'Jacks are set to take on six teams from the Lone Star State this fall. Eight of SFA's 11 games in 2018 will be played on Texas soil, five of which will be held at Homer Bryce Stadium. The Lumberjacks' season will begin on Saturday, Sept. 1 when SFA heads to Starkville, Mississippi, to take on Southeastern Conference stalwart Mississippi State. The 'Jacks will host NCAA Division II Tarleton State for their home opener Saturday, Sept. 8 at 6 p.m.
Stay tuned to SFAJacks.com, as well as SFA's social media platforms – Twitter (@SFA_Football), Facebook (@SFAFootball) and Instagram (@sfa_football) – for complete coverage of Lumberjack football throughout the offseason.
-SFA-
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