Rams Building Off the Good and Bad of Spring

FORT COLLINS, Colo. – Throughout spring camp, there are going to be good days and bad days. For units, for position groups and especially individuals.

Even those days are important and valuable, a necessity in the process of growth.

"You just keep going, trust in the process. I'm not perfect and nobody is, so you come out here and come back to work," said Colorado State wideout Ty McCullouch, who was not happy with his performance in Saturday's second scrimmage of the spring. "Everybody needs these days. One day you're on top of the world, one day you're not. You just have to bounce back. That's what football is. That's' what any sport is."

In a camp which has been filled with offensive production, the defense used the day to make a bit of a stand. The unit generated stops and turnovers, and they came during the assorted portions of red zone and move-the-ball periods.

As much as first-year coach Jay Novell wants to see Fort Air Raid light up the scoreboard, he also wants a defense which can shut teams down to complete the roster. There's balance in the spring, because a bad day for one Ram likely means a good day for another.

"I just reminded the players that whenever you get a chance to compete, you prepare, you compete and then you reflect. You always reflect on how you can do better," he said. "It's practice. We're coming out here and we're not playing games, we're just trying to run plays and execute defenses. I saw some great things from our pass rush today; I thought that was really encouraging. We had some plays made in the secondary, which was really good to see, and that's the way spring practice is.

"The most important thing is that we learn from it, we continue to improve and get better. Today there were a lot of great learning experiences for all of our guys."

Linebacker Dequan Jackson has been in the same place McCullouch was on the day, with him looking back to an earlier practice when install was still heavy on the defensive side. The result which stemmed from his worst day was coming back with one of his best.

It happens, and as he said, it is supposed to happen. Just like it did on Saturday. He was impressed with how the defense performed, more so because there was a spot of practice when they weren't but didn't let it extend to the end of the day.

"I think that was a good thing, because even the defense, practice got a little rough in the middle, we had a little bit of adversity and we able to come back in the end on top of starting fast," he said. "I was proud of the defense, the way we responded to the adversity. Everything is not going to go right every play, all the time, so I think it was a good look today."

The Rams went a little longer this Saturday than the first scrimmage, and Jackson felt the defense looked better because they've grown more as a unit, getting more comfortable in the schemes which has allowed them to play faster, not just on Saturday but through the week.
It served as a teaser for what they all want next week, when the spring game will not just be a couple of hours of running plays, but really competing in a game setting. Norvell said they will run four 15-minute periods, with clock stoppages in the first half but a running clock in the second.

His style, dating back to his time with Hayden Fry at Iowa, is to run the first team against the rest of the squad, with the first unit starting with a deficit and forcing them to come back. He mentioned 17 points on Saturday, adding he'll set the actual total on Monday.

It will be the first real spring game for the program since the year before Canvas Stadium opened, and Norvell's goal is to make it a special day annually.

"I encourage everybody to come out. To me the spring game has always been a celebration and we're trying to make it a big event," he said. "We have a Grit Run for Cystic Fibrosis, which is a charity which is very dear for my wife and I, and we have been over-the-top grateful how the university has embraced that and helped promote it. We have about 200 people running in it already, which is just amazing. Then we'll have the Spring game, which is always the first opportunity to see the team for this season. It's a precursor to the fall, so we really encourage everybody to come out and see us. Then after the game, we have a free clinic for the kids, and that's one of the most amazing things you're going to see. Anybody that brings their kids to the game, after the game our players will stay on the field, and we'll have different drills set up and they'll be out here interacting with our players and running around on the field.

"It should be a great spring celebration down here on campus and we encourage everybody to come."

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