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Spring Practice for LWC football underway Click on headllne for story plus photo(s) By Chris Wells News from Lindsey Wilson Sports COLUMBIA, KY- The thrills of starting collegiate football and finishing with a 5-6 record and 4-2 mark in Mid-South Conference play have been put in the past and preparations for an even stronger 2011 season are well under way as Lindsey Wilson College takes part in its second round of spring practice. Blue Raider head coach Chris Oliver is excited that he and his staff get the opportunity to focus just on football for a few weeks. "The offseason can be a grind," Oliver said. "We are lifting four days a week and have 6 a.m. conditioning. As coaches we are out recruiting, so it's good to finally be able to go out and focus on football and being able to improve and get better." The task of improving their performance is being put primarily on a group of sophomores, not exactly the most common class to emerge as leaders on the field. "You don't normally rely on sophomores to be the leaders of your team, but for us, that's the upperclassmen," Oliver said. "When you come in as freshmen, you're looking around and wondering who's going to do what. Now our guys understand who the leaders of the team are and we're going to have a new class come in this year who will know who the leaders are." In just its second season of putting a football team on the field, Lindsey Wilson is still in the process of filling out its complete roster, but even with limited numbers, the team has been making great strides throughout the spring. "The practices are going well, we've gotten a lot of good work in," Oliver said. "We have some depth questions at certain positions so we are certainly going to have a lot of freshman come in and compete to play for us again. "With that said, you can noticeably see a difference in our physicality from last year to this year. That comes from having a full offseason in the weight room and full winter conditioning cycle under our belts." The biggest transition to the college game for last year's group of freshmen was learning more complex offensive and defensive schemes. This spring, a majority of the players have in-game experience running Oliver's system which has led to better results in practice. "There is continuity from last year with reinstalling the schemes," Oliver said. "We are learning the offense for the second time or even third time for some of these guys so we are able to go out and move a lot faster on offense and defense in practice and execution is better because of that. "The guys know our coaching styles, they know the practice schedule and they know where to go during practice and how we operate. All of those little things make us more efficient which leads to good thing schematically."When you look at the returning roster the most experienced position is arguably the offensive line where multiple starters return in the spring, making it a group that continues to improve each day."Jon Smith and the entire offensive line have continued to develop and improve," Oliver said. "We return a lot of starters there, so it's good to have a group of guys with 11 collegiate football games under their belts. Ryan Locker and Billy Roberts are two returners who are improving as well, so you have some continuity on the offensive line." With an emphasis on the aerial attack, Coach Oliver has paid close attention to the development of his wide receivers. Including a trio of returnees who he knows can play at this level, the coaching staff has also had a pleasant surprise during spring practice. "Shannan Coofer at wide receiver has been a guy who's really come in and had a great offseason conditioning program," Oliver said. "He was a redshirt last season, a guy that got a lot of work on the scout team. Matt Powers, Victor Moulden and Chris Dobbins are guys we have that we know can play, but Shannan has been a really nice surprise in the spring." To be able to succeed through the air, a solid running game is also a necessity and just like the receivers, a mix of old and new is making an impression on the practice field. "At running back, DeMichael Wallace is back and a guy who joined us in January, James Reid out of Louisville Eastern High School, has done a nice job," Oliver said. While the offense is looking like a unit that will put points on the board again in 2011, Oliver is equally impressed with the improvement of the Blue Raider defense. "Moving over to defense, Sam Wilson is an All-Mid South Conference guy from last year who is doing a nice job," Oliver said. "Keith and Kevin Couch at cornerback have really improved, as well as Romell Freeman who's a guy that's really starting to play more consistent and physical football." With a 7pmCT game on September 3, 2011, at Blue Raider Stadium, against Cumberland University of Lebanon, TN, already on the radar to open the 2011 season, Oliver is confident that his team is only concerned with improving itself in the spring. "The great thing about spring practice is you don't have to worry about anything but yourself," Oliver said. "We know we have a great team in Cumberland coming in on September 3, 2011, but we're not worried about them now, we just need to improve ourselves and what we do." This story was posted on 2011-04-15 18:01:31
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