Individual defensive drills were once again the focus of practice yesterday. It was definitely not our best practice of the spring, thus far. However, a shot at redemption will come on Thursday.

The group that looked the best yesterday was our defensive linemen. They continued to work on their takeoffs and push-pull technique. They also worked their step, dip, + rip technique along with technique to defeat drive and down blocks. All five of the guys in this group (John Shoemaker, Josh Gibson, Tyler Perkins, Justin Saylor, and Dale Lay) worked hard and got a lot out of the session.

The Defensive Ends worked jam technique and worked on defeating drive and reach blocks. They also worked on backside technique when flow goes away from them. The LB’s and DE’s worked together on a multiple read drill in group period.

The Defensive Backs worked basic movement drills and run support drills. They also worked on coverage technique and deep ball drills.

At the end of practice we came together and did some goalline tackling and open-field tackling. In the goalline tackling drill Tyler Perkins, Daniel Slone, and Chris Hendrix stood out. In the open-field tackling session RJ Lasoya stood out.

I am going on 9 years as a Head Coach and yesterday was the 1st day, in that time, where I was not able to be heavily involved in practice. To say that I had a virus that was getting the best of me would have been an understatement. I won’t give too many nasty details, but one could say that I got well acquainted with some toilet bowls. However, assistant coaches Chris Cooper, Stephen Brogli, Kevin Crutchfield, Jimmie McCulley, and Brian Hodge more than picked up my slack.

Weather reports are calling for storms on Thursday. We will take a ‘wait and see’ approach before finalizing the agenda for Thursday’s practice.

On a side note, congratulations to assistant coach Chris Cooper who is now officially engaged to his girlfriend of 4 (or so) years, Rachel Brown. This now makes the 2nd coach on staff that is currently engaged as Stephen Brogli and Liz Green became engaged on Christmas day of last year.