Spring Football Drills at Halfway Point
TAHLEQUAH, Okla. -- Northeastern State has reached the halfway point of spring football drills and head coach Kenny Evans said the workouts have progress as expected, as the RiverHawks prepare for their season opener on Sept. 2nd at Tarleton State in Stephenville, Texas.
“The one thing that is very noticeable about our drills is the tempo of our practices from a year ago,” said Evans. “Between whistles our pace has changed quite a lot, especially from two years ago.
“We’ve got competition at almost every position and those things have helped the tempo change. All those things are making us a better football team, but we are still making a lot of mistakes on the field, because we are a young football team,” said Evans.
Evans said his club is filled with freshman and sophomores in the lineup but he has been encouraged by their improvement. “I’m excited about where we are going, “said Evans.
The third year coach said this spring’s workouts are like “night and day” from a year ago. “We had to change the culture of this program before you could do anything, before you could even consider winning, because of the previous 10 years.
“We are doing that, in the way the tempo of practice, the attitude the way they (players) look at things and the physical play that we are using. All those things have changed. And, we have more discipline in the program. All those things have helped us and those are what is going to get us to turn the corner,” said Evans.
Evans said the biggest change he has seen thus far in spring drills has been the attitude of the squad. “That was one of our goals. At the halfway point we are seeing that. Competition at every position has helped that and some positions are doing better.
“Our offensive line will be drastically improved. But I’m not saying we are where we want to be right now. But from where we were at a year ago and two years ago it’s like night and day difference”.
Evans says quarterback Kenny Davis has stood out in the first half of the spring drills.
“Kenny Davis has done some good things for us, but he’s still making some bad decisions,” said Evans. “He’s a young quarterback. It’s just his second year of college football that he is completing. As he gets more and more time he will eliminate those mistakes that can cost a football ball team. But Kenny has drastically improved.
“Billy Blackard has also looked good at defensive tackle and Gus Jones looks good at linebacker and Nick Dobler has played steady,” said Evans.
Injuries have played a part in the RiverHawks drills with several projected starters on the sidelines with minor hurts, but according to Evans, no one will miss the opening of fall drills in August.
“We have been limited, hampered practice a little bit. We have physical, hard spring practice. We try to make the spring as realistic as we can. We put our players in a lot of situations as we can that they will be in the fall. Because we are so physical, trying to teach them the correct way, sometimes you have some injures you don’t want.
“It will put some of them behind, but no one who should help our football team will miss this fall,” said Evans.
The RiverHawks will complete spring drills on April 24th with the Green-White scrimmage at Doc Wadley Stadium/Gable Field at 3 p.m.
