First off, a quick heads up about the video here. I was able to snag cornerbacks James Andrews and Zach Coleman before practice today to get their take on the battle for the second starting corner spot opposite Cory Nicol. Last year, both were freshmen from Texas, and Andrews beat out Coleman in the fall workouts for the last CB spot, so Coleman took the redshirt. This year, there's an open competition between the two for that last starting spot.
Coach Ash told me yesterday Coleman probably had a better day on Monday, and after watching practice today, I'd say Coleman is two for two this week. Both are good corners though, and will be two/three on the depth chart in the fall for sure.
Andrews is the first interview in the video. Coleman is the second.
ONTO PRACTICE
It's amazing to me how much colder it gets from 3:30 to 6:00, the time of Montana State's practices. That's Probably because it's been nicer over the last week or so, and I actually did a story about golf last weekend. It was snowing too for the beginning and end of practice today but nevertheless, the turf allows the team to practice in almost any weather.
Some GREAT news on the injury front -- both wide receiver Desean Thomas and defensive end Dane Fletcher were running 50-60 yard sprints today at the start of practice under the supervision of trainer Rob Higgs, and they both looked fine. Conditioning will have to improve, but that's not a surprise as both have been rehabbing from knee surgery. Fletcher even brought a helmet out to the field just to bounce around in a bit. Although both guys are still listed as out for the entire spring, I have no doubt both will make a full recovery and be ready to go in the fall.
Coach Ash has said he's intent on working on the passing game a lot this spring, and it showed in the 11 on 11 drills. Even with the snow coming down, the wind howling, and wind chills in what I think were probably the low teens, the vast majority of plays in 11 on 11 were passes. Overall, I'd say the defense was better, not surprisingly given this defense and the weather, but the offense made a few nice plays here and there, including a good skinny post route by senior tight end Joe Schreibeis and a sliding catch over the middle by redshirt freshman wideout Kruiz Siewing.
I found out through the 1 on 1 WR/DB workout from today that transfer wideout Elvis Akpla is VERY good at running deep routes. He got separation from every corner he faced except Cory Nicol, who's one of the best corners in the Big Sky (and DB Coach Noah Joseph has said in past interviews that Nicol just doesn't let guys by him deep). What's more important, the QBs were hitting Akpla on those routes. With his speed, the QBs can just throw the ball up there and let him run under it without too much fear of the overthrow. This is good news for the Bobcat offense: Stretching the field is the main reason Coach Ash brought in Akpla as a transfer from Oregon.
The team also did a fair share of punt catch drills today, and Coach Ash even told me half way through the drill he changed his mind like seven times during the drill on whether it was beneficial in the weather. He eventually landed on believing it was good, and I'd have to agree. Potential returners Cory Nicol, Ricky Evans, Derek Green, and Elvis Akpla struggled early on to catch the ball in the conditions, but by the end of the drill, they were all doing much better. The most sure handed of the group seemed to be Nicol, but it also looked like he had the best punts to catch.
Senior punter Eric Fisher also hit a few punts to roll down inside the five yard line. It was actually pretty impressive, as by my count he got three or four in a row to stop inside the three.
One more special teams note: Cory Nicol got a field goal block in the 11 on 11 drills. Probably about a 35ish yard attempt from Cunningham and Nicol just blew through the right side of the line for the block.
Most intense moment of the day was 1 on 1 blocking drills. Coach Ash wanted to light a bit of a fire in the team, so the entire squad gathered around two narrow sets of cones to watch a defender take on a blocker one on one and try to tackle the ball carrier behind the blocker. It definitely got everyone on the team excited. Best play: redshirt freshman linebacker Jody Owens put a nasty move on redshirt freshman tight end Shane Robison to get past him and stick the ball carrier. As you might imagine, that let loose quite a few hoots and hollers from the other defensive players.
As you might be able to tell from all I've written above, I'd say DB Cory Nicol was the most impressive player on the field today. He caught punts, covered receivers in drills very well, and blocked a field goal. All in all, it looked like he had a very good day.
I'll try to make it to as many practices as I can over the next few weeks.
~ Dave Griffiths
dave@maxmontana.com
