Aug. 8, 2006
NORMAL, Ill. -
After a physical, full-contact practice last night at Hancock Stadium that did not end until after 10 p.m., one might think that the Illinois State football team would have been tired for their 8:30 a.m. practice on Tuesday. However, on a cloudy and cool morning, the `Birds came out and were physical in helmets and shoulder pads to kick off their first two-a-day session of the fall with 25, five-minute periods of work.
Head coach Denver Johnson was pleased with the physicality his team showed on little rest.
"I thought we responded well physically this morning after a hard practice late last night," said Johnson. "We talked before practice about coming out this morning and being both mentally and physically tough, and this practice illuminated that we may need to work on the mental area a little bit more."
The Redbird offense began practice working on its hurry-up package, with both Luke Drone and Kevin Brockway taking several reps. Following the short five-minute period of work, the offense joined the defense to work on special teams drills. Kickers Bobby Kelsey, Kevin Mazur and Tyler Funk each took turns kicking field goals from 30 yards out and moved back in five-yard increments. Funk highlighted the two-period session by drilling a 45-yard attempt before the team moved on to work on its punting game.
Beginning at period 16 and running through period 18, the offense battled the defense in team "skeleton" work. Working mostly on handoffs, Drone completed three of four passes. However, his one mistake came in the form of an interception by Jesse Caesar. Marques Hawkins also bothered Drone, as he recorded a sack on the Redbird signal caller early in period 18.
Four periods of 7-on-7 work followed, with Drone and Brockway attempting 11 passes and completing seven and eight respectively. Newcomers Preston Earl and Jared Dall also took snaps during the drills, with Earl completing one of three passes. Receivers Jason Horton, Pierre Jackson and Warren McCarty each hauled in two passes, while H-back Garin Harcar also caught two passes out of the backfield.
After the accurate passing in the 7-on-7 sessions, the defense responded in the team session to end practice. James Stevenson III recorded two sacks in the final periods of the morning session, while Niall Campell and Mitchell Matthews broke up pass attempts. Dan Simnick and Alex Filin also put pressure on the ISU quarterbacks as each recorded a sack in the team drill, while Hawkins stayed visible with an interception off Brockway.
ISU will return to the turf of Hancock Stadium at 7:30 p.m. for its second practice of the day. Coach Johnson hopes that some of the mental mistakes made in the morning session will be rectified in the evening practice.
"There is definitely a mental aspect to this game, and you have to control it if you want to be successful," said Johnson. "This morning was a good learning experience for our guys and they now know what it's like to be tired and have to perform. We'll continue to work on that in our second practice of the day this evening, but I was pleased with practice overall and we got some things done that we needed to."
