A torrent rain storm halted Illinois States football practice for nearly 45 minutes Wednesday afternoon at Hancock Stadium, but once the skies cleared, the Redbirds continued their 24-period practice session in full pads and were only left to battle an occasional light shower.
We had to take a rain delay due to the lightning, head coach Denver Johnson said. We let the worse of it get by and came back out. It abbreviated practice some, but we were able to get the most of what we wanted to get done.
The Redbirds closed out the practice with a three-and-out drill during the team period. The drill began with the first team offense squaring off against the first team defense in a first and 10 situation from the offenses own 15-yard line with three tries for a first down. Whichever unit proved unsuccessful remained on the field until it accomplished the task at hand.
Senior Brian Thompson opened the drill with a 45-yard run off-tackle on the first play from scrimmage immediately giving the first-team offense a break. Sophomore
Luke Drone quarterbacked the first team to two first downs on three tries. Redshirt freshman Wally Cirafesi was 1-for-1 on his only try with the third team offense, while fellow redshirt freshman quarterback
Kevin Brockway went 2-for-3 under control of the second team.
It is a pretty good, competitive drill and we like it, Johnson said. It creates situations as they occur and each unit has to react to that. Thompsons runs were really the highlight of the drill.
Defensively, senior Brent Hawkins registered another sack and also forced a fumble, which was recovered by sophomore
Jesse Caesar in the end zone for a defensive touchdown.
The Redbirds will return for a light practice on Friday, before closing spring camp with the annual Red-White Scrimmage on Saturday at Hancock Stadium at 2:30 p.m.
