First Scrimmage Wednesday night
8/10/2011 8:26:00 AM | Football
After nearly one week of camp, Sam Houston State coaches will get a real good look at the Kats today.
The Bearkats, who have practiced in helmets and shoulder pads for the past few days, will hold its first intrasquad scrimmage tonight at Bowers Stadium.
"That's going to tell us a heck of a lot more about where we're at right now, but I'm seeing some really good carry-over from the spring," Sam Houston State head football coach Willie Fritz said Tuesday. "There's some guys that really improved over the summer. We're not allowed to work with these guys in the summer and it's apparent that guys did a lot of football things over the summer.
"I'm really encouraged by what I've seen so far."
The Bearkats will run between 20-30 plays from the 50-yard line and also from both of the 35-yard lines at the north and south ends of the field with the offense and the defense going head-to-head. Today's scrimmage will also be the first time the Kats will be running plays in full speed with tackling to the ground.
"It's going to be a very raw scrimmage. We're not going to do a lot of situations. We have not tackled to the ground yet, so this will be our first opportunity to really do it. We're going to have the ball put at various field zones and just really run plays and play football," Fritz said.
"We're not going to have coaches in the box or anything like that. It'll kind of be your typical first scrimmage format. We'll do a little bit of kicking game at the beginning and get warmed up. Fans are more than welcome to come out."
Among the things Fritz and his staff will be looking for is to try to limit and eliminate out pre-snap adjustments and alignment problems.
"We want guys to be assignment-sound. We call it 'Kats don't beat the Kats,'" the coach said. "We're trying to stay away from pre-snap penalties like jumping offsides or lining up offsides, things that just happen prior to even the ball snapping. We're really trying to cut down on those.
"We want to see who can play when the real bullets are flying. It's not going to be a true football game because the quarterback's not going to be live. ... We've got to be real careful with those guys.
"When we get finished, it'll really show us where guys are at as far as 11-on-11 football is concerned."
While many of the positions on offense and defense have a bit of certainly, there are a couple of position groups that are still an area of concern, namely at wide receiver. Fritz is also anticipating to see which players will step up and possess big-play making ability.
"Right now, we need some guys to step up at the receiver position. We've seen some flashes from some guys so far in camp, which is very encouraging," the coach said. "We need more explosive plays out of that group. I think we've got some guys who are capable of doing it. We'll see if they can do it now when we start tackling.
"On the defensive side of the ball, we've got unusual depth right now for our defensive line and our linebackers. We need to develop a little more depth in our secondary. We need to get where we've got seven or eight guys who can play at this level. Right now, we really only have about five or six, so we're trying to see if we can get a couple of guys to step up and get ready to play."
The Bearkats, who have practiced in helmets and shoulder pads for the past few days, will hold its first intrasquad scrimmage tonight at Bowers Stadium.
"That's going to tell us a heck of a lot more about where we're at right now, but I'm seeing some really good carry-over from the spring," Sam Houston State head football coach Willie Fritz said Tuesday. "There's some guys that really improved over the summer. We're not allowed to work with these guys in the summer and it's apparent that guys did a lot of football things over the summer.
"I'm really encouraged by what I've seen so far."
The Bearkats will run between 20-30 plays from the 50-yard line and also from both of the 35-yard lines at the north and south ends of the field with the offense and the defense going head-to-head. Today's scrimmage will also be the first time the Kats will be running plays in full speed with tackling to the ground.
"It's going to be a very raw scrimmage. We're not going to do a lot of situations. We have not tackled to the ground yet, so this will be our first opportunity to really do it. We're going to have the ball put at various field zones and just really run plays and play football," Fritz said.
"We're not going to have coaches in the box or anything like that. It'll kind of be your typical first scrimmage format. We'll do a little bit of kicking game at the beginning and get warmed up. Fans are more than welcome to come out."
Among the things Fritz and his staff will be looking for is to try to limit and eliminate out pre-snap adjustments and alignment problems.
"We want guys to be assignment-sound. We call it 'Kats don't beat the Kats,'" the coach said. "We're trying to stay away from pre-snap penalties like jumping offsides or lining up offsides, things that just happen prior to even the ball snapping. We're really trying to cut down on those.
"We want to see who can play when the real bullets are flying. It's not going to be a true football game because the quarterback's not going to be live. ... We've got to be real careful with those guys.
"When we get finished, it'll really show us where guys are at as far as 11-on-11 football is concerned."
While many of the positions on offense and defense have a bit of certainly, there are a couple of position groups that are still an area of concern, namely at wide receiver. Fritz is also anticipating to see which players will step up and possess big-play making ability.
"Right now, we need some guys to step up at the receiver position. We've seen some flashes from some guys so far in camp, which is very encouraging," the coach said. "We need more explosive plays out of that group. I think we've got some guys who are capable of doing it. We'll see if they can do it now when we start tackling.
"On the defensive side of the ball, we've got unusual depth right now for our defensive line and our linebackers. We need to develop a little more depth in our secondary. We need to get where we've got seven or eight guys who can play at this level. Right now, we really only have about five or six, so we're trying to see if we can get a couple of guys to step up and get ready to play."
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