Aug. 12, 2006
NORMAL, Ill. -
Saturday morning's football practice at Hancock Stadium was not a typical one for the Illinois State Redbirds, as the team used most of the session to work on special teams and to prepare for the team's first scrimmage of the fall later in the day. The `Birds had cool weather and sunny skies for the 16-period work out, which was shortened to keep the players fresh for the scrimmage.
Even though the morning practice was not as long or intense as earlier sessions, head coach Denver Johnson made sure his team did the work they needed to.
"We rehearsed, reviewed and refreshed everything in our minds today before we scrimmage our special teams tonight," said Johnson. "We still have a lot of people that we need to evaluate and a few people playing new positions that we need to take a look at. We did that this morning and tonight will show if the work paid off."
Kickers Kevin Mazur, Bobby Kelsey and Tyler Funk each hit field goals from 37 yards away in the field goal drill to begin practice. From there, the trio moved onto punting as the squad worked on its punt coverage and return packages. Jason Horton, who averaged over eight yards per punt return in 2005, took his familiar spot down the field returning punts with the first team return unit.
Following the punting drills, the team moved on to work on its kickoff and kickoff return teams. Tom Nelson and Geno Blow each returned kicks with the first team return squad, while Horton took kicks with the second team.
After some individual position work, the team finished practice with four 7-on-7 periods. Jared Dall stood out in the drill, as he went 7-for-7 while rotating with the other Redbird quarterbacks. Luke Drone also threw the ball well, going 8-for-10 including a 45 yard bomb to his favorite target, Laurént Robinson. Robinson led all receivers with six catches, while newcomer Andrew Paschal snagged five balls and Dan Passarelli tallied four grabs. Jason Tate registered the lone pass break up for the defense.
Saturday night's scrimmage at 7:30 p.m. will be the first of two during fall camp, with the second being the annual Red-White Scrimmage on August 19. Coach Johnson is looking forward to the scrimmage and is looking forward to see how his team reacts once officials are watching practice.
"It will be good to have officials out here for the first time to illuminate some of the mistakes that have been made so far in camp," said Johnson. "Some of those problems will surface tonight, and it will be good to see where those holes are so we can correct the mistakes before we finish camp."
