University of Minnesota Athletics
Gophers Don Full Pads for First Time
8/11/2007 12:00:00 AM | Football
COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. With temperatures soaring into the mid 90s Friday afternoon, the Minnesota football team took to the practice field for its first workout in full pads of the 2007 season. The practice featured an emphasis on special teams play, individual and team drills before the Golden Gophers capped the day with a raucous version of the “Oklahoma” drill before approximately 300 fans at Clemens Stadium.
Despite the heat, the excitement of practicing in full pads and the first real contact of training camp had the Gophers working at a fever pitch throughout most of the afternoon.
The enthusiasm reached a crescendo during the 3-lane “Oklahoma” drill, with bodies flying, whistles blowing and tempers occasionally flaring. The offense dominated much of the action, which pitted a blocker and ball-carrier versus a lone defender.
Still several Golden Gopher defenders stepped up and more than held their own. Linebacker John Carlson, safety Jamal Harris and defensive tackle Eric Small each made impressive stops on consecutive plays to get the defense back on track, with Small’s takedown of running back Jay Thomas drawing cheers from the crowd.
Offensive tackle Steve Shidell quickly restored the order for the offense with a textbook “pancake” block before defensive end William Brody stepped in and delivered what may have been the hit of the day for the defense. After shedding his blocker, Brody met Thomas in the hole and sent the running back skyward as the ball popped free and fell to the turf.
Following the practice, head coach Tim Brewster said he was pleased with the workout and especially the enthusiasm displayed by the Gophers. However, he was clearly upset by the post-whistle extracurricular activities.
“Guys get over zealous with the Oklahoma’ drill and everyone is tries to establish their manhood,” said Brewster. “What I told the team is that I want to see you be a man when the ball is snapped, not after the play is dead. I love the excitement and I love the energy, but we’ve got to be smart and understand that the stuff after the play is not going to do anybody any good.”
In spite of the occasional flair-ups, Brewster indicated that he liked what he has seen from the Gophers this week.
“We’re creating an edge to this football team and that’s exciting,” Brewster said. “But we’ve got to make sure that we are smart. We want to be a smart football team and that part of it will continue to grow.”
Brewster also cited the play of Minnesota’s defensive line as one of the highlights thus far in camp.
“I think we are going to be good as a pass-rushing unit and we will have to be,” said Brewster. “We’re really going to have to do a good job of pressuring the quarterback and making him get the ball out of his hands quickly.”
The heat and the extra gear didn’t seem to bother the Golden Gophers as the squad drilled briskly through a series of special teams and fundamental position group exercises during the first half of practice.
Work by the field goal and kickoff return units highlighted the special teams portion of the practice, with several Gophers flashing plenty of speed on the kickoff return squad.
Offensively, quarterback Tony Mortensen completed a series of impressive passes during both 7-on-7 drills and 11-on-11 competition, with connections to tight end Nick Tow-Arnett, wide receiver Eric Decker and wide receiver Mike Chambers all going for good chunks of yardage.
Freshman wide out Damien White may have come up with the catch of the day with a finger-tip grab on an out pattern that drew oohs and aahs from the crowd.
Minnesota will break camp at St. John’s following Saturday’s 9 a.m. practice and return to campus for the balance of its preseason workouts.
Brewster said that the retreat to Collegeville has been very productive for the team and that he was looking forward to the start of two-a-day practices next week.
“We’ve had a great week, an unbelievable week up here. It’s been awesome,” said Brewster. “St. John’s has been so good to us and we’ve been able to get a lot accomplished this week. We get into the meat of two-a-days next week when we return to campus and that’s exciting.”
