NORMAL, Ill. – Surpassing the half-way point of fall camp before the 2017-18 school year, the Redbird football team was out in full pads for Thursday's morning session on the squad's practice fields.
After a series of individual sessions, the Redbirds set up for their 7-on-7 drill. The offense started strong with a completion from Jake Kolbe to Markel Smith, before Spencer Schenell ran for a 30-yard touchdown. However, the defense responded with a series of breakups by Christian Uphoff and Ty DeForest. Artiss Henderson had a pair of successful carries in the session, with Matt Swaine coming away with a fumble recovery before the period ended.
In the Redbirds' perimeter drill, Kolbe went 8-for-8 while Tristan Smith completed all but one pass, which was broken up by Jalen Banks. Tylor Petkovich and Henderson snagged four and three passes, respectively.
Turning to their running backs, the offense successfully converted first downs in the following period. Kolbe connected with Markel Smith for the first conversion. After a one-yard carry, Tristan Smith turned to Jordan Birch on consecutive plays to move the chains. Lastly, Connor Joyce threw to Andy Mills to catch the defense off guard for a 12-yard first down. On the following three plays, Joyce tossed to Nick Kielbasa for the final first down of the session.
Despite a 13-yard completion from Kolbe to Petkovich, the defense controlled the final session of the day. Bryce Holm set the tone with a fumble recovery before a solo tackle by Davontae Harris and combined tackle by James Graham and Matt McCown sent the offense back to the sideline. DeForest took down Malachi Broadnax to follow up a Jason Harris and Jacob Powell combined tackle.
Trenton Hatfield closed out the period with back-to-back successful completions to Kielbasa, while Tristan Smith gave the ball to Birch for the final touchdown of the day. The Redbirds' kicking unit wrapped up the day with Sean Slattery hitting a 50-yard kick while JT Bolken connected at 40 yards.
The Redbirds return to the field Friday morning at 8:30 a.m. for their 11th practice of 2017 fall camp. For live practice updates, photos and video follow the official Redbird Football Twitter account @RedbirdFB and log on to GoRedbirds.com for full coverage throughout the fall.
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