^ I'm not very orange
Taken from gozips.com:
AKRON, Ohio – Through nine practices, and just one left before the annual Blue-Gold game this Sunday, Akron head coach
J.D. Brookhart recapped spring drills to date Thursday night during Zips Live at the Winking Lizard.
The Spring Festival, presented by Sky Bank, will now only include the Blue-Gold game and some pre-game festivities, which could lead to some lucky fans winning tickets to the Zips’ game at Ohio State. The skills challenge will last from 3:00 until 3:45 pm in the Athletics Field House, with the scrimmage set to begin at 4 pm.
Prior to making his comments, Brookhart saw his team go through a two-hour practice in the Athletics Field House.
“I have mixed feelings about today’s practice,” Brookhart said. “It is less to do with performance than not having all our players. You only have so many opportunities during the spring. It is tough to get a good picture as to where we are with players out with injuries and others missing parts of practice due to academic obligations.
“Our goals of spring practice is to establish things for next fall. We want to establish starters, depth and levels of expectations. Also, we have spent a lot of time on special teams. We are spending more time on that phase in meetings and getting our players more involved. Our players are taking pride in special teams.”
One of those players who has been forced to miss all of spring drills is Akron’s 2006 receptions leader
Jabari Arthur, who fractured a bone in his foot during off-season workouts. Arthur, who had his cast removed and expected to make a full recovery, talked about missing spring practice and hopes for the 2007 season.
“First, my foot is doing very, very well,” Arthur said. “I have a real sense of urgency, this being my senior year. My playing quarterback really helped me as a receiver. Not being able to practice this spring has allowed me to pass on some of my knowledge to the younger guys this spring. I have encouraged all the receivers to really know their playbooks, because that allows you to play with confidence and without thinking too much. Second, I have just tried to encourage my teammates and help them with technique. I have seen a lot of improvement from this group. They are really coming along. I am looking forward to doing all I can to put this team in the same position we were in during 2005.”
One of the key questions for the Zips this spring is the inexperience at quarterback after years of Charlie Frye and
Luke Getsy. Arthur did not seem concerned which quarterback wins the job.
“There is little difference catching passes from one quarterback to the others,” Arthur said. “Catching the ball is catching the ball. However, it is important that receivers gel with the quarterback.”
Brookhart’s evaluation of the signal callers included, “they are young and has been one of our key challenges this spring. It is good to see them out there making mistakes because it is a real learning tool They are making good progress.
“The offense, as a whole, is getting there. Our defense has an advantage with all of its depth and talent, especially at linebacker and secondary. Dennis (Kennedy) is looking real good and Alex (Allen) is far ahead in his recovery from surgery than we could have ever hoped. We are deep at tight end and our offensive line has good athleticism. It is not fair to judge our receivers, which also hurts evaluating your quarterbacks to some degree, since the wideouts have been so banged up.
“We are still trying to develop depth at defensive line. We have some players with experience (
Jared Cecchetti,
Nate Robinson and
Eric Lively) and we are having some players step up. I like their progress. At linebacker, we have three really good football players in
Brion Stokes,
Doug Williams and
Kevin Grant. We have done experimenting this spring, which we could do thanks to the talent level there. We also need to play more people at that position than we did in the past, especially since a lot of those players will be playing special teams. The secondary is similar to our linebackers. They are talented and deep, allowing us to move some players around to give different looks.”