Coaches pleased with first 5 days of camp
8/11/2015 12:51:00 PM | Football
After five days of hard work in preseason training camp, Sam Houston head coach K. C. Keeler is giving the football squad a rest day.
Wednesday the players will have a variety of team and individual position meetings and the freshmen also will take time for a campus orientation session. But the squad won't be on the turf at Elliott T. Bowers Stadium.
“We've had five good solid days of practice. Now we want to give the players a little time off tomorrow,” Keeler said. “Research shows that it's usually after that fifth practice day that you have the most injuries. So we'll give them a day off, go five more practices and give team another day off.”
Thursday the Bearkats will practice from 8 to 10 in the morning then come back for a workout from 3 to 4:20 p.m. The team will hold their first of three preseason scrimmages Friday morning during an 8 to 10 a.m. practice session.
Keeler and his coaching staff are pleased with how the team is progressing in training camp.
“The effort has been good,” Keeler said. “They're playing attention and we have good leadership. The first five days are going pretty well. We like the tempo at which we're practicing. And we're getting them in the strength and conditioning facility with Coach (Brian) Hess. The players are working hard out here on the field and we're also getting some quality time in the weight room.”
Sam Houston returns 51 lettermen from last year's 11-5 squad that won the Southland Conference championship and reached the semifinals of the FCS playoffs. The Bearkats have been picked No. 3 in the STATS FCS preseason poll and No. 4 in the NCAA FCS Coaches' rankings.
“We're still deciding on how many plays we will go live with in Friday's scrimmage,” Keeler said. “The big thing now is being smart and keeping the guys healthy. We want to do a lot of tackling and cutting but at the same time we need to be smart so we have the best team we can heading to Texas Tech.”
Sam Houston opens its 100th season of football Saturday Sept. 5 in Lubbock against the Red Raiders. The Kats host Lamar on Saturday Sept. 19 in the first of six home games at Bowers Stadium.
As always a point of emphasis for Keeler and his staff has been “playing clean” – eliminating mental mistakes and errors.”
“The veterans have been very good and the younger guys have been better than we thought they would,” Keeler said. “We have to catch those young guys up if they want to play varsity football. This is a deep team so it is really important that those young guys that are our depth get up to a level where they can help us.”
Following Friday's scrimmage Sam Houston will practice from 8 to 10 a.m. and 3 to 4:20 p.m. on both Saturday and Monday with another day of rest on Sunday.
