Strong Effort Seen In First Spring Scrimmage
3/29/2014 7:01:00 PM | Football
While the 2014 Bearkat football team still is a work in progress, head coach K. C. Keeler was pleased with the effort he and his staff saw the squad's first full-contact scrimmage at the midpoint of spring drills.
“The players have brought in to what we as a staff are doing quicker than I ever imagined,” Keeler said. “These are players who have gone to the playoffs three years in a row. Football is important to them. They want to win.”
The Bearkats scrimmaged for nearly an hour, giving players at all levels of the depth chart to show the coaching staff what they can do.
“With so many players out recovering from injuries from last season, there are a lot of young players who are getting more reps than they normally would,” Keeler said. “Spring training is always about evaluation and there are some young men with an opportunity to move up in the depth chart or find a place on special teams.”
Keeler knew the defense would be affected the most by the injury situation.
“With only seven healthy defensive linemen and today being the first time we were tackling to the ground, we knew the defense would be at a disadvantage,” Keeler said. “Still we had a lot of good work today. We're a long way from being ready for Eastern Washington next August, but we're making progress.”
Don King III and Jared Johnson, who both saw action backing up All-Southland quarterback Brian Bell last season, have impressed the head coach.
“Definitely they have separated themselves but we expected that,” Keeler said. “They're both talented young quarterbacks.”
Sam Houston has two more weeks remaining in spring ball. The annual Orange-White spring game will be Friday night April 11 at Elliott T. Bowers Stadium.
