University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Football Continues Spring Work, Set For Sunday Scrimmage
4/2/2005 12:00:00 AM | Football
Football Continues Spring Work, Set For Sunday Scrimmage
HATTIESBURG, Miss. -- The Southern Miss football team held a relatively light practice, Saturday, for about an hour and a half at M.M. Roberts Stadium.
The Golden Eagles shed the full pads today, instead opting for just shoulder pads and shorts, while also cutting back on the work load in preparation for tomorrow's 100-plus play scrimmage.
"It was pretty good," Southern Miss Head Coach Jeff Bower said. "We kind of cut back some to get ready for the scrimmage. We had a little bit of a scrimmage yesterday. We'll probably go about 120-130 plays tomorrow. That is going to be a major, major day. We only get three of the big scrimmages, so we are going to put a lot of emphasis when we evaluate that."
With the scrimmage, Bower and his staff will get their first good look at how much the team has progress through the spring drills. The team returns just six starters on offense and has seven returning starters on defense.
"We are looking for effort, being physical and hitting people," Bower said. "That's what we need to improve on as a football team. I want to see guys fly around, have fun, be enthusiastic and be very physical.
"You want them to execute and do things right, but we are going to make some mistakes, especially with the younger players. We expect a lot more out of the older ones, but I just want to see some physical play."
The Golden Eagles will continue with their NCAA-mandated 15 spring practices with Sunday's scrimmage, and then will take Monday off before returning to the field on Tuesday. Spring workouts conclude with the annual Black and Gold Spring Game, set for April 16, at 1 p.m.
