First day effort pleases head football coach
3/16/2015 3:24:00 PM | Football
Eliott T. Bowers Stadium was rocking again Monday morning as 2015 spring football drills began for the defending Southland Conference champion Sam Houston State Bearkats.
The workout was the first of 14 practices head coach K. C. Keeler and his staff will hold during the next four weeks for a group of 95 players that includes 57 returning lettermen.
“Obviously, we're a lot further along this year than we were last year,” Keeler said, referring to his first spring as SHSU head coach when so many players were missing due to injuries. “We will be missing one or two guys but everyone else is ready to go. It was very evident today the way the guys ran around their effort.”
Sam Houston rolled up an 11-5 record and won their third Southland Conference championship in the last four years. The Bearkats earned their fourth consecutive post-season playoff berth and defeated three top 10 opponents to reach the FCS semifinals.
“We did a good job today,” Keeler said. “You can only do so much without pads on, but all in all, I thought pace was good and the guys were locked in. They understand that this is the next phase. If you want to win a championship, you go step by step. We've gone through you winter workouts, then the lifting period and leadership development. This is an important four weeks for this team.”
Three transfers have joined the team - quarterback Jeremiah Briscoe of Alabama-Birmingham, linebacker JeVonte Cross from Northeastern Oklahoma and guard Curtis Riser from Texas.
“Jeremiah has a good arm and we think he's got a great feel for what we want to do,” Keeler said. “JeVonte is heck of a player. He was a three-star recruit out of high school who is very impressive. Curtis has also been impressive in the weight room and on mat drills.
“We're going to take it slow with the transfers. We feel really good about our freshman class.”
Sam Houston will hold its next workout Wednesday.
“We really want to focus these first two weeks with getting our basics down,” Keeler said. “We want to get to the point where our older players can teach our younger guys the basics of the offense and defense. I thought we did a good job of that today.”
