Michigan Football: Tidbits From MaizeMan — Spring Football Practice is Around the Corner
Posted at 7:45am — 2/23/2013
Michigan Football: Tidbits From MaizeMan — Spring Football Practice is Around the Corner
Here is a small part of the post that MaizeMan posted on the message board. To read the entire article please visit the message board. You must be a member to read the message board and participate.
Spring practice will begin in about 3-4 weeks. Just some thoughts.
1) Spring practices are actually designed to develop individual players. Spring practices if used properly allows each player to compete and see how they personally fit into plans for the fall season. It also allows coaches to show each kid the things they need to work on during the upcoming off-season.
January 1,2013; Tampa, FL, USA; Michigan Wolverines head coach Brady Hoke talks with defensive coordinator Greg Mattison against the South Carolina Gamecocks during the first half of the 2013 Outback Bowl at Raymond James Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY SportsMany posters think spring practices are just an extension of basic football practices and in some ways they are, but coaches are limited to just 15 practices in which they cannot “hit” in a percentage of those practices.
And to keep players (all players) motivated they must structure the practices so the players believe feel coaches are fairly giving them a chance to compete.
3) Coaches also like to use spring as a teaching tool, to send “messages” to certain players. One of Coach Hoke’s and staff favorites is to really put pressure on “upperclassman” or the so-called “leaders”) to perform in spring.
We commonly see our “star” players in spring being benched or having to do extra drills to send a message to younger kids that even the best players on the team are expected to perform.
5) One of the main themes, under Coach Hoke, in spring, in being physical, on each and every play. One of Coach Mattison biggest beefs and he still is not satisfied (probably never will) is that he does not feel the kids play physical every play. This aspect of the game is overly “coached” in spring.
So, I expect to see a huge emphasis in drills on pass rushing techniques.
7) Of course my favorite part of watching spring practices is simply watching which individual players are making a push and an impact, along with seeing the “newbies” compete for the first time.
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Written by GBMWolverine Staff — MaizeMan
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