Print |
E-mail to a friend
SPORTS
MU Notebook: Rare sound at Herd practice: pads popping
Yes, much of college football involves reinventing wheels, but innovation and forward thinking remain in the game.
Marshall University has been accepting of change, tweaking this year's preseason camp. From scheduling to training and the volume of contact, it's been new-look since Day 1.
Reasons for the philosophy shift varied, but overriding was a strategy to maintain relative health entering the Aug. 30 season opener against Illinois State.
"We've stayed relatively healthy, which has been good," Thundering Herd head coach Mark Snyder said. "We've cut down on a lot of the taking-to-the ground tackling, a lot more thud.
"I thought the kids adjusted to it pretty good, trying to protect one another."
Tuesday's practice proved an exception, with a pair of periods highlighting the afternoon session. Antawn Booker and Phillip Gamble delivered big hits on Tuesday, and Snyder again will include two live hitting sessions on Thursday, the last such contact until Illinois State.
"We lived it up a little today," Snyder said. "We had a couple live periods there. We've got to have some of those.
"We've stayed away from a lot more of the live stuff. And the kids adjusted. I think they're trying to take care of each other."
Also new in 2008 is a proactive training routine. Following each practice, the entire team stretches, using industrial rubber belts (thanks to media peer Woody Woodrum's far-reaching vocabulary for the phrasing on that) to further work out leg muscles.
"We've had a lot of hamstring problems," Snyder explained. "It's an epidemic, groins and hamstrings this time of year.
"We're trying what we call prehab. We don't call it rehab. We call it prehab. We're trying to forecast any problems we might have and try to nip it in the bud before they happen."
Snyder also has tinkered with scheduling, moving Saturday's rehearsal scrimmage to Friday, giving players the weekend off. It's both a reward for a solid camp and a move for his team to "get their legs back," Snyder said.
SPECIAL TEAMS SPOTLIGHT: The third phase of the game takes center stage during the second of two practices today.
A special team dress rehearsal will showcase first-year placekicker Craig Ratanamorn and true freshman punter Kase Whitehead. Most special teams players, including kick returners Darius Passmore, Darius Marshall, Chubb Small and Emmanuel Spann, are back from 2007, but new kickers bring an unknown to the kicking game.
"It's going to be a game-like situation," Snyder said. "They're going to have to come off the sideline. We're going to have all kinds of situations for them, and everybody's going to have to be alert.
"Not just Kase and Craig. It's going to be everybody."
Today's practices, along with Thursday and Friday, are closed to the public.
ALL EYES ON AUG. 30: With Wisconsin looming a week later, could Thundering Herd players look past NCAA Division I-AA Illinois State, a reporter asked Snyder on Tuesday.
Not hardly.
"I don't think we have that problem after what happened last year," Snyder said, presumably referring to last season's 48-35 home loss to I-AA New Hampshire. "Our kids are pretty focused. They know they're a good (I-AA) team.
"Illinois State's solid. We'll have to come and play."
NOTES: Tickets remain available for today's Paint the Capital Green event at the Embassy Suites in Charleston. Tickets are $35 per person and can be purchased at the event, which begins at 6 p.m. ... Safety Ashton Hall returned to practice Tuesday, but linebacker Maurice Kitchens and defensive lineman Ian Hoskins again sat out. ... Courtney Edmonson provided a practice highlight, sprinting away from the Thundering Herd secondary on a 75-yard "touchdown" pass from Brian Anderson. He appeared to step out of bounds following the over-the-shoulder reception, but no whistle was blown and Edmonson displayed breakaway speed.
Anthony Hanshew covers Marshall football for The Herald-Dispatch. He can be reached at 526-2766. His e-mail address is hanshew@herald-dispatch.com.
