Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Football holds first practice of Spring Ball
02/27/2019 | 7:02:00 | Football
CARBONDALE, Ill. — The Southern Illinois football team held the first of 15 spring practices on Wednesday on a chilly, windy day at Saluki Stadium. The Salukis return six starters on offense but graduated both quarterbacks who started in 2018. On defense, Southern returns 10 starters and has added three new coaches, including coordinator Jason Petrino.
Practice Schedule
3:20-5:15 PM (Feb. 27. Mar. 1, 5, 7, 19, 21, 26, 28. April 1, 3, 5)
2-4 PM (Mar. 3)
Scrimmages
9:30-11:15 AM (Mar. 23, 30)
Spring Game
12 PM (April 6)
Q&A with head coach Nick Hill
How excited were you to get back on the field today?
"We're six weeks into winter conditioning and lifting and it feels good to change up the routine. Everybody was excited and eager. Obviously, there's things you have to clean up on both sides of the football, day one-type things — new quarterbacks, new defensive scheme — but I like everybody's attitude and enthusiasm."
Talk about the planning and preparation that goes into getting ready for spring ball.
You have a structure in place and you might tweak things from year to year, but you have detailed practice plans with the amount of reps and who's getting what reps, scripting out plays. The first five practices we'll script the down and distance, where the ball is, what plays are being run, what defenses are going against what. We're really trying to structure the practice to implement our base, core plays of offense and defense, not trying to trick each other. We're working on the fundamentals of the game and doing a good job of teaching. I told the team, the off days with meetings are just as important as the practices. That's why we go three days per week, so we can get that day in between every practice to watch the film and really teach and make sure everybody's on the same page going into the next practice.
How does a transfer quarterback like Karé Lyles approach spring ball, compared to a redshirt freshman like Nic Baker?
For Karé, your wheels are going to be spinning a little bit. You can watch all the film and be able to draw it up on the board, but things start moving fast on the field. He's a quick learner. It's more the operation of calling plays at the line of scrimmage, being no huddle, learning signals that were different than at Wisconsin. Things like that you have to iron out with reps. It's really about keeping a great attitude throughout, knowing there's going to be some learning curve in there. With Nic, it's not like he's had a ton of reps, either, when there's two seniors ahead of you (last year). At the end, he was the third guy and getting a few reps at the end of the season. The base knowledge of the offense, it's good to see him operating at a good level.
Is it important or even necessary that you come out of spring ball with a starting quarterback?
I don't think there's a perfect answer. Whenever the team knows and we know, it will be pretty obvious. You want it to be close, that way you know there's a couple good quarterbacks on your team. You just let it kind of come to you and I honestly haven't spent much time thinking about a certain date when you need to have one. You'd like to know who your starting quarterback is but that will all take care of itself. You need multiple good ones.
What's your approach to how many reps you give a veteran player who may have a lingering injury from last season?
I think selfishly as coaches, especially in the spring, you want to get them out here, but you have to realize you're not going to win any games in the spring time. You win games by the preparation and practice, and those things matter. Do I selfishly want us to look better on offense if this guy plays, or are we going to look better in the fall if he's playing and not reinsuring something? You have to be cautious in the spring, especially if they're an older player who has been around and has game experience. Sometimes, those are blessings in disguise that allow you to develop some younger talent. The practices might be rougher, but they need those growing experiences to continue to get better.
Who are some players on offense who redshirted last year that will have a chance to make an impact this season?
Up front I think there's three offensive linemen who have a chance to compete to help us out — Brett Groves, Beau Branyan and Jimmy Womsley. All three are going to be really good football players around here and compete to play. It's not scout team anymore. They're going to get thrown to the fire and get some reps with the 1s and 2s. Tremayne Lee at the running back spot has really worked his butt off and had a great offseason. He started to do some good things where we travelled him at the end of last year. You got to see a little bit of Javon (Williams Jr.) early in the season before he redshirted.
Some personnel notes — Hill said P Lane Reazin has graduated and will not return next season, while TE Logan Crouse has left SIU to join the Army…Today was the first official practice at SIU for a handful transfers — QB Karé Lyles (Scottsdale CC), QB Cooper Callis (Pearl River CC), WR Avante Cox (Wyoming), CB Jonathan Thompson (Highland CC), LB Tim Johns (Purdue).
Practice Schedule
3:20-5:15 PM (Feb. 27. Mar. 1, 5, 7, 19, 21, 26, 28. April 1, 3, 5)
2-4 PM (Mar. 3)
Scrimmages
9:30-11:15 AM (Mar. 23, 30)
Spring Game
12 PM (April 6)
Q&A with head coach Nick Hill
How excited were you to get back on the field today?
"We're six weeks into winter conditioning and lifting and it feels good to change up the routine. Everybody was excited and eager. Obviously, there's things you have to clean up on both sides of the football, day one-type things — new quarterbacks, new defensive scheme — but I like everybody's attitude and enthusiasm."
Talk about the planning and preparation that goes into getting ready for spring ball.
You have a structure in place and you might tweak things from year to year, but you have detailed practice plans with the amount of reps and who's getting what reps, scripting out plays. The first five practices we'll script the down and distance, where the ball is, what plays are being run, what defenses are going against what. We're really trying to structure the practice to implement our base, core plays of offense and defense, not trying to trick each other. We're working on the fundamentals of the game and doing a good job of teaching. I told the team, the off days with meetings are just as important as the practices. That's why we go three days per week, so we can get that day in between every practice to watch the film and really teach and make sure everybody's on the same page going into the next practice.
How does a transfer quarterback like Karé Lyles approach spring ball, compared to a redshirt freshman like Nic Baker?
For Karé, your wheels are going to be spinning a little bit. You can watch all the film and be able to draw it up on the board, but things start moving fast on the field. He's a quick learner. It's more the operation of calling plays at the line of scrimmage, being no huddle, learning signals that were different than at Wisconsin. Things like that you have to iron out with reps. It's really about keeping a great attitude throughout, knowing there's going to be some learning curve in there. With Nic, it's not like he's had a ton of reps, either, when there's two seniors ahead of you (last year). At the end, he was the third guy and getting a few reps at the end of the season. The base knowledge of the offense, it's good to see him operating at a good level.
Is it important or even necessary that you come out of spring ball with a starting quarterback?
I don't think there's a perfect answer. Whenever the team knows and we know, it will be pretty obvious. You want it to be close, that way you know there's a couple good quarterbacks on your team. You just let it kind of come to you and I honestly haven't spent much time thinking about a certain date when you need to have one. You'd like to know who your starting quarterback is but that will all take care of itself. You need multiple good ones.
What's your approach to how many reps you give a veteran player who may have a lingering injury from last season?
I think selfishly as coaches, especially in the spring, you want to get them out here, but you have to realize you're not going to win any games in the spring time. You win games by the preparation and practice, and those things matter. Do I selfishly want us to look better on offense if this guy plays, or are we going to look better in the fall if he's playing and not reinsuring something? You have to be cautious in the spring, especially if they're an older player who has been around and has game experience. Sometimes, those are blessings in disguise that allow you to develop some younger talent. The practices might be rougher, but they need those growing experiences to continue to get better.
Who are some players on offense who redshirted last year that will have a chance to make an impact this season?
Up front I think there's three offensive linemen who have a chance to compete to help us out — Brett Groves, Beau Branyan and Jimmy Womsley. All three are going to be really good football players around here and compete to play. It's not scout team anymore. They're going to get thrown to the fire and get some reps with the 1s and 2s. Tremayne Lee at the running back spot has really worked his butt off and had a great offseason. He started to do some good things where we travelled him at the end of last year. You got to see a little bit of Javon (Williams Jr.) early in the season before he redshirted.
Some personnel notes — Hill said P Lane Reazin has graduated and will not return next season, while TE Logan Crouse has left SIU to join the Army…Today was the first official practice at SIU for a handful transfers — QB Karé Lyles (Scottsdale CC), QB Cooper Callis (Pearl River CC), WR Avante Cox (Wyoming), CB Jonathan Thompson (Highland CC), LB Tim Johns (Purdue).
Players Mentioned
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