Spring football climaxes Saturday with Orange-White tilt
4/23/2010 10:55:00 PM | Football
By Cody Stark Assistant Sports Editor
HUNTSVILLE - Final exams are still a few weeks away, but the Sam Houston State football team is getting an early taste today.
With players battling to move up the depth chart, the Bearkats have a final opportunity to impress the coaching staff before the summer break when the annual Orange and White game begins today at 9:30 a.m.
"We want to see the guys minimize mistakes and pre-snap penalties," SHSU head coach Willie Fritz said Thursday. "We took a step back in that department last Saturday, so we need to take two steps forward this week. We want to be assignment sound and be more physical.
"There is a lot of competition. All of these guys want to play and the only way I can tell who is going to play is to evaluate how they do in these type of competitive situations."
The spring game is going to be similar to the format the Bearkats used a year ago. Instead of splitting the squad into two separate teams, the offense will battle the defense.
The plan is to run about 100 plays. The first and second teams will get most of the snaps, then the third units will get some work in. Points will be awarded for things such as first downs, touchdowns, sacks, turnovers and other situations.
The only kicking will be for extra points and field goals.
"It's going to be offense versus defense," Fritz added. "We are going to use a point system that I have used in the past when I didn't have enough guys to field multiple teams. We will put the ball at the 35 (yard line), the 50 and other places all over the field to work on different situations.
"Everything will be live. We will tackle to the ground and have a full set of officials."
The defense has dominated for most of the spring workouts, but the offense has started to come around as the Bearkats have gotten more comfortable in new offensive coordinator Bob Debesse's system.
In the first scrimmage two weeks ago, the SHSU offense only found the end zone once. Last weekend, the Bearkats scored five touchdowns in team and goal-line drills.
"With a new offensive coordinator and learning a new offense, we are just trying to get better at the small things during the spring," junior quarterback Greg Sprowls said. "Every time we get to go in a team-like setting and play in a game-like experience, we are getting better and better. We are learning on the fly, but hopefully as the pattern keeps going we will have a better scrimmage than last week."
With a year and a half under defensive coordinator Scott Stoker's system, the SHSU defense has looked like a different unit than it did during most of last season.
The Bearkats haven't given up very many big plays in the spring and have been getting to the quarterback and causing turnovers. SHSU had six sacks last weekend and defensive lineman Coty Gatewood returned a fumble 40 yards for a touchdown.
"We are becoming more of a family. Everybody is getting to know each other better and we are gaining each other's trust," defensive back Robert Shaw said. "We get to come out here and have fun. Nobody is like, 'I don't feel like practicing.' We know we are coming out here to have fun and these coaches base things on that.
"They want us to work hard in the drills, but they also want us to have fun. We are coming together as a family."
