Aug. 2, 2008
NORMAL, Ill. -
One thing became crystal-clear during the Illinois State football team's third preseason practice Saturday afternoon on the Hancock Stadium turf: this will not be the same Redbird team that finished 102nd in the nation in defense last year out of 116 NCAA Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) teams. The Redbird defense sparkled throughout ISU's two-hour (24 periods) workout, and was sparked by intense play by one its senior leaders.
The practice also marked the first of two workouts for Illinois State in shells, before the Redbirds break out full pads during Monday afternoon's session.
"I thought it was a great practice in the first day of shells," said Jim Williams, Illinois State assistant head coach and offensive coordinator. "Often, guys are a little rusty and assignments aren't correct in these types of conditions (first practice in shells), but everyone looked very good, on both sides of the ball.
"The defense (Saturday) looked great. The guys were firing off the ball, and on the offensive side, we were going full sprint on all of the plays. Come Monday, once we get into full pads, the players are going to have to take it to another level, and we look forward to letting them cut loose some more with their intensity."
One of those senior leaders was defensive lineman Adam Blankenship, who set the intense tone for the day during the defense's tackling dummy drill, as he sprinted out of his stance and grunted loudly when hitting each tackling dummy. From then on, the ISU defense dominated the workout, especially during the team's 43-play scrimmage that ended practice.
The scrimmage started on a high note for the Redbird defense, as linebacker Tommie Westbrook intercepted projected starting quarterback Kevin Brockway's pass on the first play of the scrimmage. Then, on the very next play, Westbrook struck again, this time tipping a Brockway pass, which eventually fell into the defense's hands.
While much of the scrimmage was dominated with running plays, the Redbird quarterbacks did get a chance to air out their arms. Brockway went 2-for-3, and also led the way for a touchdown run by tailback Parrish Fischer down the left sideline. Sophomore Preston Earl was 2-for-4 in passing, while redshirt freshman Drew Kiel had a 1-for-4 passing performance.
The intensity truly started at the beginning of practice, as a battle began to brew between ISU's two field-goal kickers, sophomore Steven Fetzer and junior transfer Zach Kutch. Both were equally impressive in point-after attempts, as Kutch made 5-of-6 tries, with his kicks going straight through the middle of the uprights on a hard line. Fetzer met the challenge, as he was 6-for-7 in his attempts.
Both sides of the ball took advantage of being in shells to begin some new drills midway through practice. The offensive line worked with the sleds on the upper grass practice area, while the safeties worked at getting underneath their opponent, and the defensive line focused on staying low and driving through during a tackle.
Period number 14 saw the entire Redbird offense move up to the upper grass practice area, where it worked on pass plays without facing a defense. This allowed ISU to implement some new plays and see them in motion, before it unveiled those plays during the scrimmage at the end of the workout.
Illinois State will resume preseason camp at 2:30 p.m. Sunday at Hancock Stadium for its fourth preseason practice.
NOTABLE:
Sophomore transfer cornerback E.J. Jones remained sidelined with a hamstring injury and is listed as day-to-day. He was the only Redbird not to practice Saturday.
