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Spring practice comes to close with Saturday's spring game
ROME – They have practiced before the sun came up
and after it went down.
On Saturday, however, the Shorter University football team will play under the light of the sun when the Hawks close out their annual spring drills with a scrimmage at Ben Brady Field.
“I don’t think we’ve ever had a better spring practice and that’s because of their effort,” Hawks’ head coach Phil Jones said as the team prepares for its intrasquad scrimmage that begins at 10:30 a.m. “The relationships they have with one another are good.”
Those relationships have been strengthened by the rigorous spring workouts that have tested the will and focus of each player – in order to avoid conflicts with class schedules, the 120 players dressing out have either taken the field to practice at 5:30 a.m. or at 6 p.m., all in hopes of laying a solid foundation for the looming 2011 season.
To do that, the Hawks have concentrated on learning from the immediate past – last season’s disappointing 5-6 record – to set the stage for the immediate future.
“Our mindset offensively is overcoming and eliminating turnovers,” the coach pointed out.
Despite the final record, the first under .500 season endured by Shorter since its inaugural season in 2005, the Hawks did produce some impressive offensive numbers in 2010 while maintaining their status as one of the NAIA’s top rushing teams.
Last season, Shorter was the No. 2-ranked team in rushing yards a game (310.9) and total rushing yards (3,420), and when the Hawks did put the ball in the air, they provided protection and wound up as the No. 3-ranked team in preventing sacks.
Putting the ball on the ground, however, proved to be costly.
In Shorter’s final three Mid-South Conference games, all of them resulting in losses, the Hawks coughed up the ball an unsettling 13 times and watched as foes recovered 10 of the fumbles.
“Last year we had probably the most productive season we have had as far as statistics and yards go,” said Jones, “but turnovers hurt us badly. We just can’t do that.”
One other area Jones and his coaching staff have addressed during their spring workouts is filling the holes left by those Hawks who closed out their careers.
Although the team said farewell to just 13 graduating seniors, five of those who started, one huge vacancy on the offensive side of the ball is a priority – filling the void at quarterback, where the now-departed Ben Williams has lined up for the past three years.
Jones feels that two Hawks have responded to the call at the position; senior David Byrd, who has backed up Williams for the last two seasons, and junior Corey Thacker, a former standout at Rome High who, in addition to earning a spot on Shorter’s quarterback depth chart, also serves as the Hawks’ punter
“I couldn’t be more pleased with the improvement they’ve made,” Jones said of the pair. “Neither one of them is a ‘me’ kind of player. They’re very good ‘team’ players.”
Defensively, Jones said, the Hawks – they wound up being the Mid-South’s No. 2 team in total defense – have focused on bettering the pressure against the pass and turning up their ability to get to the ball quicker.
“We know we need to improve our pass rush and our overall defensive speed,” said Jones. “The coaches have put a lot of emphasis on that and I can see it’s really improved.”
What has allowed the Hawks to use the spring workouts to their advantage is the fact that unlike the fall practices, when the offensive and defensive units worked against scout teams, the units are squaring off against each other.
That, Jones said, has allowed every player the opportunity to get a look from the coaches and throw their name into the playing hat for the upcoming season.
“Every kid has had a chance to step up,” Jones said, “and spring practice is an incentive for them to do that. And that pushes the older kids too.”
