March 24, 2006
NORMAL, Ill. -
Beginning on Sunday, the Illinois State football team will have 15 practices, including the annual Red-White Scrimmage on April 22, over a 28-day span as the Redbirds begin preparation for the 2006 season with their annual spring camp. The `Birds will hold their first workout on Sunday at Hancock Stadium at 3 p.m., in helmets and shorts.
The Redbirds, who finished 2005 with a 7-4 mark, are coming off a memorable season, but are focused on making the NCAA I-AA Playoffs in 2006. ISU has 43 letterwinners returning, including 16 starters.
"We have some definite goals heading into spring," head coach Denver Johnson. "We have a lot of guys coming back, but we also lost guys like (Brent) Hawkins, Stafford (Davis) and (Mike) Stegeman, who really played a lot of ball for us. So we have some definite holes to fill and now it's time for some of our young guys to break through. We look for (camp) to be very competitive and we are looking forward to seeing who is going to step up for us."
Johnson, who enters his seventh season as the head coach at Illinois State, will focus on fundamentals during the 15 workouts.
"The focus in the spring is to make individuals better football players," Johnson said. "With only 15 practice opportunities, you're not going to put in your entire offense or your entire defense. We will experiment some scheme-wise, but the best way to improve your football team in the spring is to advance and make your players better football players heading into the fall."
As mentioned before, the Redbirds will have to replace all-conference offensive linemen Davis and Stegeman, who combined for 89 starting assignments in their careers, and Hawkins, the 2005 Gateway Football Conference Defensive Player of the Year and Buck Buchanan Award runner-up.
"We've had two pillars in the offensive line and we built the line around those guys, but now they're gone," Johnson said. "Guys like Janiah (Downing) and (Isaiah) Wiggins will have to be the anchors and it's time for other guys to take this opportunity to step up and establish themselves as guys we can play with and win with.
"On the defensive side of the ball, you aren't going to lose a guy like Hawkins and replace him with an equal guy. We will have to get more production from more people to make up for losing a great player."
Included in the 16 starters returning are all-league players Luke Drone, Tom Nelson, Pierre Rembert, Laurént Robinson, Cameron Siskowic, Kye Stewart and James Temple. Robinson and Siskowic each garnered all-America honors in 2005, with Robinson finishing 10th in the 2005 Walter Payton Award voting, while earning the Gateway's Offensive Player of the Year Award, and Siskowic serving as a finalist for the Buchanan Award.
However, Robinson and Drone will not likely team up in the spring like they did for the Redbirds last fall. Drone will miss spring camp, while rehabilitating from the sports hernia surgery he underwent in March.
"I hate it for Luke that he won't be able to participate, because he is such a competitor," Johnson said. "But I think in the big picture, it is going to serve us well. We know Luke can play, that's not an issue. This will allow the other guys to compete and we can see who can advance themselves and see who can challenge Luke for the job in the fall. This will allow us to develop the depth at quarterback that we absolutely have to have."
The Redbirds will workout for the first three practices in helmets and shorts, before wearing full pads for the first time on Saturday, April 1.
