Colorado State University Athletics
CSU spring football blog: Practice 9
4/10/2010 12:00:00 AM | Football
April 10, 2010
Check news archives for previous practice blogs
By Nick Frank
Athletic Media Relations
FORT COLLINS, Colo. – Saturday’s practice at Sonny Lubick Field at Hughes Stadium saw the defense once again play with emotion and passion. As a unit, the defense made a surplus of plays that showed the depth that it has this year.
The defensive intensity was sparked early by cornerback Brandon Owens during a team thud period. Owens rocked running back Chris Nwoke as soon as he caught a pass out of the backfield, much to the appeasement of defensive teammates and coaches.
Watching in street clothes nearby, linebacker Mychal Sisson, who is recovering from minor shoulder surgery Wednesday, encouraged Owens to be that physical on every play.
While the defense drew praise from coaches, the offense showed its inexperience at times on Saturday.
“Offensively that might have been as bad of a practice since I have been here,” Head coach Steve Fairchild said. “There was absolutely nobody offensively that had a clue what they were doing. You could tell they were soft, you could tell there was no tempo, and we could not even substitute right.”
Big plays: Wide receiver Jyrone Hickman turned heads when he made an athletic catch near the sideline, making sure that he kept one foot in bounds so the catch would stand…Quarterback Pete Thomas found Tyson Liggett for a 40-yard pass down the middle. Even though he initially bobbled the ball, Liggett retained his concentration and hauled in the reception before waltzing into the end zone…Defensive back Elijah-Blu Smith put a bone-jarring hit on Raymond Carter right at the goal line as the running back tried to get into the end zone. Whether Carter actually scored is still up for debate; each player had a different version.
Move the ball: For nine plays during one period Saturday, the Rams held a live scrimmage in a “backed-up” situation, meaning the offense had its back against its own goal line. During that period, for the first time this spring, the team “moved the ball,” leaving the ball where the officials spotted it after every play, what would happen in a game. Normally during practice, equipment managers move the ball back to a previously scripted line of scrimmage no matter what happens during the previous play.
Live periods: The Rams had a six-man officials crew at practice. The two live periods, the backed-up session and the midfield situation, totaled 27 plays, most of which were ruled by the defense. The defense was led by Ricky Brewer, who started the period on a good note when he dragged down Leonard Mason in the backfield for a 6-yard loss. Ty Whittier forced a fumble that was scooped up by teammate Davis Burl. Also recovering a fumble during the team session was defensive back Momo Thomas. Brewer had 1.5 sacks, including a solo sack on third-and-5 that ended an offensive possession in the first live session. James Skelton had a sack of his own (a safety during the backed-up, move-the-ball period), and shared another with Brewer (1.5 total). Curtis Wilson also had a sack. DeAngelo Wilkinson also broke up a pass. One bright spot for the offense came when Raymond Carter ripped off a 42-yard run down the sideline. Carter finished with three rushes for 53 yards. The defense won by a score of 16-12.
Other statistics from the live period:…Rushing: John Mosure 3-11, Mason 4-8, Nwoke 1-1, Liggett 1-28. Passing: Pete Thomas 3-of-5, 19 yards; Nico Ranieri 2-for-3, 28 yards, including a 23-yard strike to Marquise Law. Receiving: Mosure 1-3, Nwoke 1-5, Law 1-23, Cameron Moss 1-6, Carter 1-11.
Injury update: Eugene Daniels sat out practice Saturday with a wrist injury; Fairchild didn’t consider it serious. He also said that Ezra Thompson is doing better after getting his bell rung at the end of Thursday’s practice. The CSU coaches and training staff are treating Thompson cautiously, and Fairchild said the team hasn’t yet decided whether he will return this spring, and may just err on the side of caution and hold him out over the final six practices. Andy Clements left practice with what could be a serious knee injury.
Spring game: Fairchild said right now he still hopes to have a traditional spring game (April 24, 11 a.m.), having seniors draft teams and engaging in an actual football game.
“Offensive-line wise, we are fine; that is where you worry,” Fairchild said. “We are staying fairly healthy there. Defensive line right now, it would be a little tough. As long as our line stays fairly healthy I think we can do it. I am going to try to do it.”
Competition: Every player on the roster is a teammate, but the green-clad offensive players have been noticeably vocal with their white-shirted defensive counterparts, and vice versa.
“You like to compete and have a score,” Fairchild said. “I think that is good, and I don’t know if I would say it is tense. It’s more a competitive environment. If you like to talk trash you can talk to each other a little bit, but right now the offense should shut their mouth because they don’t have anything to talk about.”
Quarterback competition: Fairchild said he doesn’t expect to name a starting quarterback until the fall.
“For awhile, we will evaluate it from week to week,” he said. “We will have a personnel meeting Monday and set where we want to go each week with how we are repping guys.
“I’m not worried; I’m not going to even consider it until August. I don’t see how we would. We have too much inexperience to know what we have.”
Greenwood’s role: The Rams know that they will use Lou Greenwood; they just don’t know exactly how. Greenwood has been playing both running back and wide receiver this spring.
“We have to find out how to get him the ball,” Fairchild said. “He is kind of in between. I don’t know what he is in terms of position. He is a good player with the ball in space and we will line him up in those spots and see what he does.”
Fairchild said Greenwood might fill a role similar to what Dion Morton did for the Rams the past two years.
“What we study from tail end of recruiting through spring ball is very much research and development for us, bringing people in and looking at NFL teams, and if you see an idea you like in a player that you think can do something like that, then you create that and we have been working on that. I don’t know if there is more of it or if you even call it experimenting. We just try to fit people into what we do. We have a big package. We can always say, ‘This part fits these guys better than this part,’ but there is also a lot of installing right now and just to get it in and try to teach it.”
Notes: Two NFL scouts were at Saturday’s practice, along with former graduate assistant Mark Kranske…Nwoke during an early thud period took a sweep around left end and made a nice spin move to juke Brewer, before cutting his run to the middle of the field en route to a 35-yard TD…Ram Jam, CSU’s largest annual community-outreach event, is slated for April 20 at Moby Arena. The evening, which is free, allows kids to interact and play with student-athletes from every sport…The third annual Rams Superstars Competition, best described as a cross between the NFL combine, WWE wrestling and American Gladiators, will be the evening of April 29. It also is free and takes place in Moby Arena, involving all the football players. More information will be coming.
