Despite taking part in its fourth practice in three days, the Illinois State football team had another enthusiastic practice Sunday according to head coach Denver Johnson.
The jazz level was extremely high today, Johnson said. Of course, when you have great weather, it helps to make things easier. But, I thought it was a competitive practice and I was very happy with how we performed.
The Redbirds, in full pads for the first time this spring, took part in a 24-period practice Sunday, with the last six periods devoted to a scrimmage. The ball was spotted at the 15-yard line for each play, and Johnson was particularly pleased with the play of the backfield.
The running backs, B.T. (Brian Thompson), (Pierre) Rembert and Rafael (Rice) all had a good practice, Johnson said. (Luke) Drone had some nice throws and (Jonathan) Denley looked good as well.
Drone started the scrimmage by finding
Pierre Jackson open on a rollout play, while Wally Cirafesi connected with Denley later on in the practice. In addition, Kyle Hill hauled in a pass from Nick Gehrts and Brian Thompson broke free on an 85-yard run to the end zone.
Defensively, despite, Thompsons long gain, the Redbirds looked particularly sharp at stopping the run during the scrimmage.
On defense, I thought we did a nice job of swarming the ball, Johnson said. Traditionally, thats been one of our strengths and we need to continue to do a good job at stopping the run.
The Redbirds are tentatively scheduled to return to the practice field on Wednesday for a 3:30 p.m. start depending on the weather.
