Colorado State University Athletics
Spring Notebook: Practice 2
3/12/2015 12:00:00 AM | Football
The Rams have finished their first week of spring practice under first-year head coach Mike Bobo, and will now have a week off for spring break before resuming practice on March 24.
Thursday's practice was similar to Tuesdays. The coaching staff continued installing the new schemes, and corrected little mistakes from the first practice.
"I think we corrected from day one and some of the mistakes we had today were from the new install plays," Bobo said. "I thought the effort and attitude was good. There was a couple times we had to threaten to run in the morning, but overall I thought it was good. They came out with a positive attitude and worked hard."
Offensive coordinator and offensive line coach Will Friend says his offensive line has adjusted well to the new blocking scheme, but it is still going to take some time.
"It is different when you recruit a whole group of guys and been with guys for four or five years," Friend said. "There are things you take for granted when you're installing things. The guys that we're doing it with right now they haven't gone through a couples years, or even the freshmen a season, of running the plays that we're installing."
In the first two practices, Bobo has had local referees come out and help the Rams become a more disciplined team. Last season, Colorado State averaged 54.8 penalty yards per game.
"We want the referees out there because if someone commits a foul they need to know about it," Bobo said. "If we line up offside or if we have an illegal formation, an interfering of passing or a hold, I want them to throw the flags. We want to be a disciplined football team. That means no missed assignments, no turnovers, no penalties and part of that is having officials out here."
Spring Notebook
OUT: Senior cornerback DeAndre Elliott, who started seven games in 2014 and registered 30 tackles, will miss Spring Camp, but he is still very active at practice.
"He has a groin or hernia deal that is going to probably keep him out all spring," Bobo said. "He is doing a good job staying involved with Coach (Tyson) Summers and Coach (Terry) Fair. He's like an assistant coach this spring."
THE GRIND: Colorado State's popular web series `The Grind' returns tonight with the first episode from Spring Camp. Follow @CSUFootball on Twitter to be the first to see when The Grind is released.
Offensive Coordinator/OL Will Friend
(on being a tough, physical run team)
"To win a championship you have to be able to run the ball when they know you're going to run it. No. 1, you're going to be ahead in games if you're going to win championships. You have to be able to finish games, you have to be able to score in the red zone, you have to be able to keep first downs going with short yardage. So, you have to be able to run the ball when they know you're going to run it to win a championships. To do that, you have to be tough. And that is not just the line, it is the fullbacks, the receivers finishing downfield, the running backs finishing, it is the quarterbacks learning what to do and getting us in the right place with the checks and combos. We are going to be a balanced football team."
