Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Football kicks off training camp with first practice
08/10/2009 | 12:00:00 | Football
Aug. 10, 2009
By Adam Longueville
www.SIUSalukis.com
Daily Camp Blog -- Daily Photo Gallery
CARBONDALE, Ill. - How does it feel to have the first practice in the books? It was a good practice today. Just get the rust off and get the guys used to practicing. Primarily that's what you want to do with the first day, just get the ball rolling.
With a returning starting quarterback and six other starters returning on offense, do you expect to expand the playbook this year? Well, every year you want to take that next step. Last year, we were just installing the offense, and we had to be very basic at times. This year, we have much higher expectations. You have to be careful of how much you expect from them. You can't just throw it all at them. We are going to throw enough at them to see how much they can handle and how effective we can be. That's what we're trying to figure out in the pre-fall -- what we do well, what we don't do well, and trying to make our adjustments from there.
How wide open is the competition for reps at running back? We're going to have multiple running backs competing for us, just to make it through the season. We did it last year, too, with Larry Warner. Richard White got a lot of reps, as did Lucien Walker. I think we're in the same situation this year, where we have five quality running backs who can contribute, and I feel like we need all five ready to contribute. That's just one of those positions on the team where you can play five guys.
Which players do you see competing for Larry Warner's job in the return game? Well, the kick return is going to be difficult. Larry had that big-play ability. We've got some players who we think are capable of making big plays, and we just have to see how they respond to the situations we put them in.
Is it your policy to redshirt all freshmen? Or is there a chance a few of them can contribute to this year's team on the field? Every fall, I go in with an open mind where I might keep a few shirts off the freshmen. But they've got to be ready to play and ready to contribute at a significant level, or else I feel like we waste one of their seasons. So there are years where I redshirt everyone, because the depth is very good, and some years I'll play some freshmen, just because we do have a few depth concerns.
