April 13, 2007
BLOOMINGTON, Ill. -
For the second straight day the Illinois State football team practiced indoors at the U.S. Cellular Coliseum and the for the second straight day the defense stole the show.
For the final three periods of the 18, five-minute period practice, the Redbirds focused on goal line situations. In the 30 snaps from three yards out, the offense was only able to score on eight plays, including two runs by Alan Abrams. Of the 22 defensive stops, two were the result of broken up passes by J.W. Sheering and Colin Greiner.
"The intensity was really good (during the goal line period)," head coach Denver Johnson said. "It was physical. It was fast. They were getting after each other pretty good. There were some miscues with a couple of missed assignments offensively and some alignment problems defensively. But the intensity of the drill and the speed of the drill was impressive."
Despite the lack of success in short yardage on Friday, Johnson has been impressed overall with the play of the offensive line during spring practice.
"I'm really impressed with our offensive line right now," Johnson said. "Coach (Rod) Carey is doing a great job with them. (Isaiah) Wiggins has been great and (Brandon) Joyce is more athletic than he was a year ago and has had a great off-season. (Jonathan) St-Pierre has dropped some weight and the last couple of days I've really been impressed with the young guys like Brad Paul, (Chris) Riley and (Michael) Cross."
Prior to goal line, the Redbirds spread out the length of the indoor field and spent three periods on a team scrimmage. Both Geno Blow and Rafael Rice would have busted loose for long runs, if not for the short width of the playing surface. Defensively, Greiner picked off a Preston Earl pass.
The Redbirds also worked on the kicking game and Kyle Siskowic and Paul were both utilized as the short snappers, while Tom Nelson, Warren McCarty and Luke Drone all took turns at the holder position.
Johnson opted to give the team the weekend off and will try to resume practice on Monday, if weather permits.
NOTES: Garin Harcar missed Friday's practice with bruised ribs, while Jermaine Malcolm was sidelined with an ankle sprain.
