08 Spring practice page

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'08 Spring practice page

Owls make strides along with gaffes as drills move along

It's almost a treat in itself to watch and wait on the sideline amid the deeply-colored, fresh new turf of Rice Stadium (PTH photo)

HOUSTON (Mar. 26) – As of Wednesday, the Rice Owls are heading into the home stretch in their 2008 Spring Practice campaign, ten workouts now under their belts and the annual Spring Scrimmage looming Saturday, with a 5:00 p.m. kickoff in Rice Stadium.

Observers have not failed to take note of the offensive gaffes committed more often than one would wish by some of the Owls’ most experienced offensive-unit players this spring, but also cannot fail to take refuge in the fact that Rice returns a seasoned, experienced offense this fall, especially among the skill positions.

Still, that doesn’t excuse poor or haphazard performance in the spring, Rice head coach David Bailiff was quick to tell us, earlier this week.

Monday, the offense had a better time of it than in previous workouts, working the short passing game to good effect on a crisp, hurry-up drive to end the practice session. Part of that might have been due to some as-yet unfamiliar zone coverage schemes being installed by Rice defensive coaches this spring. But Chase’s passing was more up to his usual standard and the receivers at length did appear to have responded to a bit of old-fashioned negative reinforcement.

"We’ve got to play catch, not drop," Coach Bailiff said afterwards. "You notice that when they drop a ball, they’re over there doing push-ups. We’ve got to expect them to catch everything that’s thrown at them."

As for specific ‘plus’ performers at the receiver spot that day, Coach Bailiff mentioned Toren Dixon and Tommy Henderson.

In sum, the Owl offense isn’t being allowed to rest on its laurels this spring while the defensive side gets the lion’s share of the attention.

Meanwhile, the much-maligned Owl defensive side appears to have undergone something of an attitude adjustment in the first ten workouts of the spring.

"I feel the defense has made great strides," linebacker Brian Raines told us. "I think everybody’s starting to understand what we’re trying to do in this defense; what our coaches are looking for. Our defensive coaches – especially the defensive coordinator – have been very passionate about us picking up our end of the slack on defense. We’ve got a great offense, and this spring so far the defense has looked pretty good against those guys, so I’m pretty excited about things."

Brian also emphatically stated that he feels right at 100 per cent, physically, after having undergone shoulder surgery in the off season.

With the defensive week spot looming to lie in the relative inexperience of the Rice defensive line, having skilled and experienced linebackers ready to play and take a leadership position on the field is going to be crucial to Rice’s chances to improve on the defensive side, Coach Bailiff said.

The spring hasn’t been totally devoid of good news on the DL front, Coach added.

"Davon Primus is one we need to continue to work with," the Rice Head Man said. "He can move very well for being over 300 pounds. We need to get him plenty of reps, but is improving every day."

Coach B also mentioned Bencil Smith, Brian Raines and Andrew Sendejo as having good spring drills in anticipation of each of them taking a leadership role on the field, come fall.

Though the practices may produce inconsistent impressions and reveal more warts than Rice coaches and fans may wish to observe, the overall result is in the nature of three steps forward, two steps backward, Coach implied.

"We want to do something," he said. "We want turn into a football team right now, so when we take the field in the fall, that next year can be something special."

"I think we’re better as a football team right now that at any point last season."

--P.T.H.