University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Rain Continues To Cause Problems
9/4/2001 12:00:00 AM | Football
Rain Continues To Cause Problems
Hattiesburg, Miss. - The University of Southern Mississippi football team had to work around heavy rains and thunderstorms on Tuesday and, in Head Coach Jeff Bower's words, "got very little accomplished."
The Golden Eagles did spend the first 45 minutes on the regular practice fields, but torrential rain that resulted in flash flood warnings for the Hattiesburg area, and heavy lightning drove the team under M. M. Roberts Stadium, where players spent the remainder of practice "stepping through" pass protection and blitz protection, and doing what work was possible defensively.
Bower says that while today's workout was not a total loss, it was just not the same as being on the practice fields. "We were going to spend much of today's workout concentrating on fundamentals, in an effort to get better on the practice fields," said Bower. "We just didn't have a chance to get to nearly everything that we wanted to in the limited time we had outside, and I'm not sure how all this rain will affect us for the remainder of the week. The fields right now are in terrible shape because of all the rain, and I'm not sure what we'll do for the remainder of the week."
The Golden Eagles are scheduled to work Wednesday and Thursday, take Friday and Saturday off and return for a Sunday evening workout as they start preparations for the Sept. 15 game at Alabama.
Bower says that he and the staff remain pleased with the Golden Eagle effort in the Oklahoma State game. "The only negative was that we didn't play with much intensity offensively in the second half," he said. "I thought we had a good first half in all three phases of the game. We need, maybe, to do a little better job in the kicking game, polish that up, but, other than being disappointed in the second half offensively, I thought we played well."
