Spring Practice Wrap Up

So Coach Loeffler had a presser after the end of the Spring practice today.  I watched it.  You can, too.  It's on the internet, and embedded below.

A few things jumped out at me.

First, Coach thinks our running backs are going to be pretty good and we're going to use them.  Given his offensive track record, I'd envision a lot of 12 and 13 personnel and an attempt to run the ball.  If you think about it, that would take the pressure off a defense that is going to start undermanned.  Run blocking was an issue last year (understatement) but with a new coach on the o-line they have moved some guys around.  I felt like they had ability all along and they've certainly gotten time to play, so with effective coaching and a run-friendly personnel grouping, maybe more holes can open up.

Second, he talked about the opening days of practice when he had to teach the players to get into "basic football position."  He describes what he means by that in the clip, but what's interesting is that he positions it as the kind of thing that is just fundamental to know and says that our guys did not know how to do that.  That's kind of an artifact of where we were the last three years.  I suspect it was worse than we even thought, based on that.

Third, he says that the practice moved inside, which was OK because he wanted a short practice for "player safety."  BG has only one healthy scholarship RB, for example.  And shortages in other position groups.  So, we didn't want a 150=play scrimmage, though Loeffler thinks that would have been "AWESOME."

Fourth, and perhaps most significant, was that he said "the numbers aren't right."  I believe this is related to what I mentioned in my post on the roster....BG is short on guys at certain positions.  He went on to say that BG has scholarships available but they can't be filled due to "rules."  I don't know what "rules" he is referring to, but I believe you can only give 25 scholarships in any year.  You are allowed 85 total, so you can eventually catch up, just not right away.  Those PWOs are going to be really important.  Point is, that we are short on players at some positions and that is one of the challenges he is dealing with as we attempt to rebuild the program.

He said that he was happy with the spring but there's a long way to go.  Almost has to be true.  Pretty much four months and they'll get their first test at home against Morgan State.