Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Football preps for first spring scrimmage Saturday
04/06/2011 | 12:00:00 | Football
April 6, 2011
By Jason Clay
SIUSalukis.com
CARBONDALE, Ill. - The Southern Illinois football team completed its sixth practice of spring football on a very windy Wednesday morning at Saluki Stadium.
Head coach Dale Lennon met with the media following Wednesday's practice.
What would you like to see out of Saturday's scrimmage?
"We're just trying to bring our whole game together. It's practice No. 8 for us, so we're kind of at the mid-way point and it's like our midterm test that you have in college. That's what we got to find out, is where we are at."
What have you seen out of your passing game through a week and a half?
"We're working on it, that's why we got to go live to see where we are at. The passing game is always dependent on protection and how the guys are doing up front. The more they can do up front, the more you can do in the passing game. I like the concepts that we are running. We got good concepts as far as putting the stress on the secondary, but at the same time we have to see if we can execute that and that is where Saturday comes in."
Is it hard to judge the quarterbacks when they don't go live?
"In the real world you would like to go live with the quarterbacks, but because you are limited with the numbers that you have there, you try to keep them healthy through spring. That's not saying that at some point and time, and even maybe Saturday, we do decide to go live. Our evaluation where we are at with the quarterback position is that at some point and time we'll probably go live. My first year here in '08, when we were kind of in the same situation evaluating the quarterback, we did go live in the spring game and that did give us a good feel for who could do what."
How has A.J. Hill done so far and what can we expect from him?
"A.J.'s done a good job. He came in and learned the offense and I think he's a quick study and understands football well. He is still progressing and trying to get into his comfort zone, but he has definitely shown us what he is capable of potentially and that's encouraging."
Can you talk about your tight ends and do you like the depth that you have there?
"We don't have experience at the tight end spot so that is where there are going to be some opportunities. Now, C.J. Robertson is sitting out the spring because of an injury that he is rehabbing, and really he is the only one returning with the experience factor. Then you got MyCole Pruitt, who is taking our No. 1 reps right now, and De'Ron Flood and Dalton Morgan. They do bring some ability to that position that I think can be very beneficial for what we want to do offensively. We have to see what they are capable of doing and see where their blocking skills are and see how much can we do with them."
