Offense looks to improve in Saturday's scrimmage
4/16/2010 5:00:00 AM | Football
By Cody Stark, Huntsville Item
Last weekend, the Sam Houston State football team finally got a chance to go all out in its first full scrimmage of spring practice.
Now it is time for round two.
The Bearkats will scrimmage again Saturday morning and this time one of the focuses is going to be on two-minute drills. Sam Houston began working on it in practice this week, but head coach Willie Fritz is ready to see how the team will do with officials on hand.
"We are still going to do some situational stuff and we practiced the two minute today in practice," Fritz said Thursday afternoon. "That is probably the most difficult thing in practice to replicate without officials. We will have officials on Saturday, so we are going to do some two minute and goal line. We are just now working on that."
As expected, the SHSU offense struggled in the first scrimmage last weekend. The Bearkats managed to find the end zone once, which came on a 35-yard touchdown pass from senior quarterback Bryan Randolph to freshman wide receiver Richard Sincere.
The offense is still learning a new system, but Fritz would like to see the Bearkats cut down on some of the mental mistakes.
"What I want to see Saturday is for us to have less pre-snap penalties and see us have fewer mental busts. That's the big thing," the coach said. "We are having too many of them. This is our 10th practice today and I could understand those mistakes in the first four or five. Penalties are what get you beat."
Fritz said last week that there were going to be some position changes at the quarterback spot where five players are battling for the starting job.
Freshman Kyle Webster was moved to slot receiver this week, leaving Randolph, senior Greg Sprowls and freshman Tyler Copeland as the only three quarterbacks on the active roster.
"We think Kyle is a good athlete and we think there are some things he can do," Fritz said. "We feel like he can help us at receiver and help out in the kicking game. Right now, he is a little bit behind the other quarterbacks.
"Randolph and Sprowls are ahead of the rest that we have seen so far. Those two guys are going to get more of the repetitions. We have to start getting those guys ready for next season."
As far as the defense is concerned, Fritz would like to continue to see the Bearkats play consistently on Saturday.
Last weekend, the defense forced turnovers, shut down the running game and got pressure on the quarterbacks.
"I was really excited last week because we only had two missed tackles. That is outstanding for the first scrimmage," Fritz said. "There were some guys that stepped up and really played well that had not shown that much in the first seven practices.
"We want to see the same thing Saturday - good crisp tackling and no mental mistakes."
Saturday's scrimmage will be the last for the Bearkats before the annual Orange-White game which will conclude spring practice on April 24. For information about the spring game, go to Orange-White Spring Game, April 24, 9:30 a.m.
The night before the game (Friday, April 23) fans are invited to the 22nd annual SHSU Football Dinner and Auction starting at 5:30 p.m. at the HEARTS Veterans Conference Center off state highway 75 North. Go to SHSU Football Dinner and Auction link for more information.
For information or to purchase tickets to the 2010 Sam Houston-SFA game at Reliant Stadium in Houston in October, go to Battle of the Piney Woods.
