Football gets down to business
3/27/2011 8:01:00 AM | Football
For the first day in full pads, the Bearkats did not look too shabby during Saturday morning's workout.
A couple of long touchdown runs, some turnovers and a big pop highlighted the action for the Sam Houston State football squad during the third practice of the spring at Bowers Stadium.
The Bearkats went through some position drills, then let the offense go head-to-head with the defense for close to 40 plays with a non-live quarterback to wrap up the day's activities.
"It took the guys a little while to shift gears," SHSU head coach Willie Fritz said. "Anytime you start tackling to the ground for the first time that usually happens. I saw some good things on both sides of the ball. It is not real football because the quarterbacks are not live, but it is as close as it gets and there were big plays on both sides."
The morning got off to a slow start as it took a little while for the players to warm up. Once the two sides came together for the team drills, which consisted of situational plays like first and 10, second and 6 and so on, the energy picked up.
The first-team offense struggled on its first series, which featured a botched snap that junior defensive end Edward Decambre recovered.
The second unit, well let's just say the defense was the group left scratching its head. On the first play, backup running back Ridgeway Frank slipped around the corner and raced 68 yards to the end zone.
The entire offense sprinted out onto the field to celebrate the score. There was whooping and hollering as if Frank had just put a dagger into archrival Stephen F. Austin.
Backup quarterback Greg Sprowls then hit running back Ryan Wilson for a 10-yard gain. That is when Sprowls flashed some of his speed for the defense.
The senior got a pair of solid blocks from tight end J.D. Standley and wide receiver Trent Diller to rumble for a 63-yard touchdown. Once again, Sprowls was greeted on the field by the entire offensive unit.
"We want to be good at running the ball," Frank said. "We want to overpower people even if they know it is coming. Our goal is to be as balanced as we can on offense, so that is what we are working on."
Not to be outdone, the defense picked up the tempo. Following Sprowls' long run, starting quarterback Brian Bell tried to catch the secondary sleeping with a deep pass down the right sideline.
The freshman got a little too much air under the throw and defensive back Bookie Sneed, who almost picked off a pass earlier, did not let this one get away for another turnover.
To send a message to the offense, the entire defense swarmed the field to congratulate Sneed.
Sophomore safety Mike Littleton had the hit of the day. Wide receiver Grant Merritt tried to wrangle a high pass into his arms and Littleton laid down the lumber and jarred the ball loose for an incompletion.
That might have brought out the biggest roar from the Bearkats on the day. It definitely showed that spring football was in full swing.
The defense did give up a couple of long pass plays. Bell connected on a deep ball with Torrance Williams for 44 yards down to the 5-yard line. Toward the end of practice, Bell hit redshirt freshman Saqwan Edwards for 45 more.
"Being the first day of full pads, we just wanted to try as hard as we could," Sneed said. "We gave up some big plays at the start and a couple at the end, but for the most part, I thought we didn't do too bad. We just have to eliminate those big plays and tackle better.
"We are going to get better as we start to settle in."
The Bearkats have 11 more workouts this spring. The situation is a lot different than it was at this time last year when Fritz was beginning his first spring camp.
Sam Houston was limited on what it could do, using the time to teach new systems and everything that goes with a coaching change.
Even though all the questions carried over into the fall, the Kats still managed to go 6-5 and finish 4-3 in Southland Conference action.
"We had to jump right into it last year," Fritz said. "We had to teach football last year, learn a new system, the terminology and that sort of stuff. We had so many new guys that we had to start all over in the fall.
"Now we can do a lot more. We can begin to work on situations like what to do on certain downs and distances instead of schemes and drills. I'm excited about that."
Spring practice at Sam Houston will go through 15 practice sessions during the next three weeks.
For the first time ever, the annual Orange-White Spring Football Classic will be held on a week night. The contest which annually climaxes spring work will be held Thursday night, April 14 at 7 p.m.
Sam Houston will play six home games at Bowers Stadium during the 2011 season plus the "Battle of the Piney Woods" at Reliant Stadium in Houston. For information about Bearkat football season tickets, go to www.gobearkats.com/tickets .
