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University of Minnesota Athletics
Blog: Spring Practice Begins
3/25/2009 12:00:00 AM | Football
- Gold Zone Video: Adam Weber and Tim Brewster talk about day one
An enthusiastic group of Gopher football players hit the indoor field at the Gibson-Nagurski Football Complex Tuesday afternoon. It was the first of 15 practice sessions for the Minnesota football program this spring.
Head coach Tim Brewster said afterward that he was pleased with the effort and attitude displayed by his team after nearly three months since the 2008 season ended at the Insight Bowl.
“I was really pleased with the attitude of our football team,” Brewster said. “They came out with a very workman-like attitude and got a lot accomplished in the first day. I was pleased with what we were able to get done. The kids flew around and there was great energy in the building. It was exciting.”
There were plenty of position-specific drills, seven-on-seven work, offensive line vs. defensive line periods, special teams work and even a few 11-on-11 sessions Tuesday. The Gophers were put through their paces in a full 22-period workout. The squad worked out in helmets, jerseys and shorts in their first workout of the spring.
There were highlights for both the offense and the defense Tuesday. But the defense definitely got the last laugh. On the final play of practice, linebacker Simoni Lawrence intercepted an Adam Weber aerial and returned it about 40 yards.
Co-defensive coordinator Kevin Cosgrove was taking part in his first practice as a member of the Minnesota staff. He said he was happy to see the sort of play-making ability that Lawrence flashed on that last play, along with some other members of his defensive unit.
“We’re always looking for play-makers,” Cosgrove said. “A few guys jumped out at me. We saw some guys make plays. We’ve got to watch the film to see everything. But I saw Simoni make some plays, I saw Smallsy (Eric Smalls) get in there and get a good pass rush. We saw a lot of good things out there.”
It was also the first practice as a member of the Gopher coaching staff for new offensive coordinator Jedd Fisch and new wide receivers coach Richard Hightower. Coach Brewster said he has been pleased with his staff in the weeks and months leading up to spring practice and didn’t see anything to change his mind on the practice field Tuesday.
“The new guys have done great,” Brewster said. “They fit in extremely well. I really like the things that we’re implementing offensively. Cos and (co-defensive coordinator) Ronnie (Lee) have really done a great job of doing some things defensively in a short period of time.”
Brewster was impressed with the abilities his team showed on the field in its initial 2009 practice session.
“One thing that is very evident is that we’re getting more athletic and we’re getting faster as a football team. That’s what we need to do.”
The Gophers will have a lifting session Wednesday and will then get back on the practice field Thursday afternoon. We’ll have practice reports here on GopherSports.com from each of the 15 spring practices.
One other note to pass along. For those of you who aren’t regular readers of the Big Ten blog on ESPN.com, Adam Rittenberg, who authors that blog, has been in the Twin Cities for a few days now. He has had numerous blog items about Minnesota football over the past couple days. Links to those items are below:
Rittenberg’s Minnesota items on the ESPN.com Big Ten Blog - Observations From Practice ; Coach Brewster On Twitter ; Decker Doing Double Duty ; Brewster's Monday Press Conference; Brewster's Positive Outlook; and a TCF Bank Stadium Update.
Rittenberg does a great job and provides wonderful coverage of Big Ten football. There’s a lot of reading in the above links, but Gopher fans should really enjoy Rittenberg’s coverage of Minnesota over the past few days.
-Andy Seeley
