Well one thing is for sure after the first spring practice, MC and his new coaching staff won't be needing any of this (picture on left).
Cristobal, his coaches and players were all flying around all the drills today. And it wasn't all about yelling or screaming. From where I was sitting on the sidelines you could hear the coaches teaching along with exhibiting some discipline when plays or drills weren't done right.
There were several ex-Golden Panthers in attendance and they all were saying the same things: They couldn't believe the energy in today's practice from both the players and coaches. Plus, the 2007 players worked on several drills that most of the ex-Golden Panthers said they hadn't seen since high school.
Special teams was a big emphasis today. The coaches stopped practice 3 times to work on special teams drills.
Also, there were 3 walk-ons auditioning for the kicking jobs after practice. Like Mario said during the kicking auditions: "Every single day will be an audition for this team. The best thing in the world is competition. Competition will fix every thing."
Some standouts from day 1: Julian Reams had some nice runs during goal line drills. Lionell Singleton intercepted Paul McCall during 7-on-7 drills and had a clear path to the end zone. Kent Henderson and Robert Mitchell were strong in pass coverage especially during red-zone drills.
It's only the first practice, but from the looks of day 1 this team seems to be headed in the right direction as MC says below:
"We know we got tons of work to do. You don't go 0-12 and magically turn it around with a
couple of hard practices. We're trying to find out who are the guys we can count on. The thing
we are doing is we're being very, very real and very direct. There is no sense in sugarcoating anything
at all. If you are not getting it done we gotta find a way to help you and make you get it done. And if not somebody else will."
Thanks for the update Pete. It seems that Lionell Singleton is going to be one of our impact players this season. I hope he can stay healthy.
Posted by: alt7787 | March 28, 2007 at 12:31 AM
Thanks Pete...Great info you are sharing with us. Singleton is going to be a Senior and should be a team leader this coming season. Good to hear....
Posted by: FIU Fanatic | March 28, 2007 at 01:47 AM
Nice to hear that the first practice went so well.
Posted by: MaXx | March 28, 2007 at 07:22 AM
Glad Mario knows WE NEED A KICKER!
Get someone off the soccer team. The girl's soccer team! anyone
Posted by: NY Panther | March 28, 2007 at 03:40 PM
Great to hear that a great deal of emphasis is being put on our special teams.
Posted by: FIUGP | March 28, 2007 at 07:04 PM
im glad to hear that the players are feeding off the coaches energy. and glad to hear that its goin to be a competition .. it sounds great. just a question for you pete, when is ground breaking for the new stadium.. i know its either this month or next but im not sure when...
from what I've been told they still have to select a contractor and once they do, they can go ahead with the groundbreaking.
Posted by: CJ | March 29, 2007 at 10:16 AM