2008 Woodie Awards
Defensive line decimated by injury
By: Robbie Sgro
Issue date: 3/21/08 Section: Sports
New play clock, no problem for the football team.
A rule change in the offseason brings a new 40/25-second play clock to college football. But with spring football practice in its third day, coach Butch Jones' no-huddle offense won't be affected much by the change, which is a result of officials trying to speed up.
"We're going to go fast every time we step on the field," said running back Ontario Sneed, who will be a senior in the fall. "We really don't pay attention to the play clock. It doesn't affect us."
The 40-second clock starts after incomplete passes and all dead-ball situations. The 25-second clock would still apply to penalties walk-offs, timeouts, measurements, change of possession or instant replay reviews.
Jones said the start to his second spring session with CMU has gone well so far.
"We've had two good, solid practices focusing on the fundamentals, so we're obviously way ahead of where we were last year at this stage of the game," Jones said.
Mending the line
Senior Casey Droscha, junior Larry Knight and sophomore Josh Allison all are being held out of practice on the defensive line with injuries, Jones said.
"It's going to be touch and go," Jones said. "It gives more quality reps for the other guys, but depth is definitely an issue and we've got to get through this spring, knock on wood, not have any more injuries at that position."
Notes
Jones said he didn't expect any players to change positions.
"We may experiment here and there, but pretty much everyone's stayed at the same positions," he said.
Central returns all its running backs from last season - Sneed, senior Justin Hoskins, junior Marcel Archer and sophomore Carl Volny. While quarterback Dan LeFevour led the team with 1,122 yards last season, Hoskins has 664 and Sneed had 486.
"We weren't much of a threat last year, but we're all back, so we're definitely going to be a threat this year," Sneed said.
sports@cm-life.com
A rule change in the offseason brings a new 40/25-second play clock to college football. But with spring football practice in its third day, coach Butch Jones' no-huddle offense won't be affected much by the change, which is a result of officials trying to speed up.
"We're going to go fast every time we step on the field," said running back Ontario Sneed, who will be a senior in the fall. "We really don't pay attention to the play clock. It doesn't affect us."
The 40-second clock starts after incomplete passes and all dead-ball situations. The 25-second clock would still apply to penalties walk-offs, timeouts, measurements, change of possession or instant replay reviews.
Jones said the start to his second spring session with CMU has gone well so far.
"We've had two good, solid practices focusing on the fundamentals, so we're obviously way ahead of where we were last year at this stage of the game," Jones said.
Mending the line
Senior Casey Droscha, junior Larry Knight and sophomore Josh Allison all are being held out of practice on the defensive line with injuries, Jones said.
"It's going to be touch and go," Jones said. "It gives more quality reps for the other guys, but depth is definitely an issue and we've got to get through this spring, knock on wood, not have any more injuries at that position."
Notes
Jones said he didn't expect any players to change positions.
"We may experiment here and there, but pretty much everyone's stayed at the same positions," he said.
Central returns all its running backs from last season - Sneed, senior Justin Hoskins, junior Marcel Archer and sophomore Carl Volny. While quarterback Dan LeFevour led the team with 1,122 yards last season, Hoskins has 664 and Sneed had 486.
"We weren't much of a threat last year, but we're all back, so we're definitely going to be a threat this year," Sneed said.
sports@cm-life.com
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