Archive for April, 2009
Thursday, April 30th, 2009
Depth an issue with Pokes
Spring football is done at the University of Wyoming. We are about three months away from the start of fall camp and four months from the season-opener.
First-year coach Dave Christensen released a post-spring depth chart Wednesday, and lets say depth isn’t strength of this team right now.
UW finished the spring with less than 70 players, and less than 55 in last Saturday’s spring game due to injury and illness.
This team needs help in a lot of areas, but more than anything it needs more bodies.
Many of the projected and expected starters on this team appear to be solid. But in most cases, the guys behind them are not.
For instance, six of the 11 back-ups on defense have either never played at UW or are playing a new position.
On offesne, the Cowboys go into fall camp with a true freshman starting at right guard in Nick Carlson. True freshmen playing along the offensive line is rare enough, let alone at Carlson’s size at 6-foot-4, 235 pounds.
Granted, this was done mostly because junior starter Jack Tennant missed most of the spring because of an injury.
Still, if UW has to go to its bench along the offensive line at just about any position it could be in big trouble.
Christensen has said that it takes a rotation of at least eight or nine receivers to effectively run his spread offense. Including tight ends, which are split out like receivers in this offense, UW has 12 on the roster.
But only a handful are ready and capable of playing right now.
And lets not forget about quarterback. Senior Karsten Sween enters fall camp as the starter, but Christensen will give junior-college transfer Robert Benjamin and true freshman Austyn Carta-Samuels a chance to compete for the job with Sween and two other guys.
Twenty-four players were signed in Christensen’s first recruiting class back in February. All but one were high school recruits.
Expect at least 12 to 15 to contribute on the field this fall, especially in the defensive secondary, linebacker and receiver positions.
Tuesday, April 28th, 2009
Not an easy task
Weather has wreaked havoc on all sports this spring, but soccer has been the most adversely impacted. Case in point: The Cheyenne Central boys and girls just finished a string of four matches in seven days. The Cheyenne East boys and girls begin a stretch of four in seven today against Gering, Neb.
I really feel for those athletes. Not only have they had a lot of matches moved around, but the weather that moved those matches has pretty much kept them from being outside and training. Soccer is a sport players have to be well-conditioned for. They run countless miles per match and there are plenty of collisions in matches that create many nicks and bruises. Without rest, those nicks and bruises can turn into larger, nagging injuries.
The players currently aren’t getting much rest. They play one day and the coaches give them the next off. If players don’t get the day off, they do a short pregame walk through or minor drills to polish skills.
The other problem with a jam-packed schedule is it doesn’t allow much time for teaching. Sure, coaches can make in game adjustments and remind players of those adjustments heading into the next game. But game after game with little to no practice in between doesn’t allow coaches to drill points home and work on correcting problems. This is exactly why Central girls coach Scott Foster was excited having about three days of practice before his team returns to action Friday in Gillette.
“We don’t get a lot of time to work and reflect in games,” he said after his team’s 1-1 draw Monday with visiting Riverton. “I’m looking forward to three practices before two more tough games this weekend. This is going to be a good time for us to look at how we’ve been playing and make corrections.”
Friday, April 24th, 2009
All about defense
With the Denver Broncos in ownership of two first-round picks tomorrow, all this nonsense of taking former USC quarterback Mark Sanchez needs to stop.
No, using those two picks on defense isn’t “sexy” and doesn’t do anything to get fans riled up. Or rebuild their lost confidence because of the firing of Mike Shanahan and the trade of Jay Culter.
But that should not be what first-year Broncos coach Josh McDaniels bases his decision on. At least I would hope it’s not. With this 13-year-old, you never know for sure. Remember Matt Cassell?
In case you have forgotten, the Denver defense is dreadful. Compared to last year’s unit, I think the one the Broncos have now is even worse. And all McDaniels has done to address that is sign an aging safety and tinker with his secondary.
I don’t care if you have four Champ Baileys in your secondary and bring in a fifth in passing situations, if you don’t get pressure on the quarterback it doesn’t matter who you have in your secondary.
And Denver has done nothing, zip, nada, zilch to address its defensive line and linebacker problems this offseason.
Needless to say, it’s high-time McDaniels start addressing those two major holes or a long season will get even longer for the Broncos.
The best way to do that is through the draft and those two first-round picks.
Use the No. 12 pick on stud LSU defensive end Tyson Jackson … or Boston College’s B.J. Raji … or Texas’ Brian Orakpo, and use the No. 18 pick on another defensive lineman or linebacker. At least then you have addressed the No. 1 problem facing this team.
Call me a nut, but addressing the defense by drafting offense makes no sense. Then again, everything McD has done to this point hasn’t made any sense.
If defense isn’t Denver’s top priority tomorrow, it’s just more proof the hiring of McDaniels set this franchise back.
Thursday, April 23rd, 2009
Signing day
Here are some notes and quotes I couldn’t fit in Wednesday’s paper from Cheyenne East’s signing day.
Qarus Hernandez, football, Dakota Wesleyan
– Hernandez also visited NCAA Div. II Mesa State College in Grand Junction, Colo., and Div III Cal Lutheran. He said he enjoyed his visits to those schools, but got a better offer from Dakota Wesleyan. He also said there would have been too many distractions at Cal Lutheran with it being so close to Los Angeles and the beach.
– “The biggest thing, for me, was finding somewhere I was comfortable. I had to be comfortable with the town, the coaches and the team. Dakota Wesleyan felt like home.”
– Dakota Wesleyan is in Mitchell, S.D., home of the famed corn palace.
Abi Bever, track and cross country, Black Hills State University
– “The thing I liked most about it was it has really good academics. It has a really good elementary education program. The cross country program has a pretty good history of being pretty good. They’re one of the best programs in the Dakota Athletic Conference.”
Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009
Christensen: “No excuses”
First-year University of Wyoming football coach Dave Christensen continues to put his mark on the program.
There are fast-paced and high-tempo practices, and the physical nature of it all.
Tuesday in Laramie Christensen added another chapter — no excuses.
He didn’t like what he saw from his team after about 30 minutes of practice, so he made them start all over again. You often hear coaches say things like that, but rarely do you see them carry through with it.
Christensen did and it certainly got the attention of the players.
“The thing I tried to tell these guys is we will not accept mediocrity,” said Christensen after practice. “There’s no coming out here just to get through it. We’re going to practice extremely well from start to finish or we’ll start over.
“It doesn’t matter how many guys we have left. … We don’t want excuses.”
With 17 players not available due to injury and/or illness, it was difficult for the team to get through the rest of practice. It also will be interesting to see how the team gets through its spring game on Saturday. Christensen said he’s never seen so many injuries in his coaching career, and wants to find out why.
However, don’t expect him to change his ways or philosophies of demanding tough, physical play from his team.
As many as nine former players could suit up for the spring to help fill in some holes, which is legal by NCAA standards. However, the former players must sign waivers in case they get hurt.
Christensen said he plans to release a post-spring depth chart early next week, but added that competition for all jobs will resume when fall camp starts in August.
Most of the players will be around all summer in Laramie to work out and go to school. Christensen said June and July will be critical months for his team in terms of conditioning and preparation for fall camp. He also said he is concerned about the overall physical strength of his team, especially along the offensive line.
Monday, April 20th, 2009
Even more moves
Rather than playing Casper Kelly Walsh tomorrow evening, the Cheyenne East soccer teams will face Riverton in matches that were postponed because of this weekend’s weather. The boys traveling to Riverton and the girls hosting the Lady Wolverines. Both matches are scheduled to start at 4 p.m.
Meanwhile, the Kelly Walsh matches have been moved to May 4 with the boys at home and the girls on the road.
Cheyenne Central will face Riverton on Monday, April 27. The Lady Indians host Riverton at 5 p.m. at Riske Field. Central’s boys will play at 5 p.m. in Riverton.
Monday, April 20th, 2009
Ch-ch-ch-changes
Weather has forced even more changes to the local prep sports schedule.
Rather than taking on Laramie today, the Cheyenne Central soccer teams will face the Plainsmen on Wednesday. The boys match is slated for 6 p.m. at Central’s Riske Field and the girls match is scheduled for 5 p.m. in Laramie.
Friday, April 17th, 2009
Fearing signing official
Casper College women’s basketball coach Dwight Gunnare called me this morning to let me know Cheyenne Central senior Lindsey Fearing had officially signed with the Lady Thunderbirds. I called Gunnare before I ran the story April 2, but he couldn’t comment until he had Fearing’s National Letter of Intent in his hands. The spring signing period for junior colleges didn’t start until this week or last.
Here’s what Gunnare had to say about Fearing:
“The first thing that attracted us to Lindsey was her scoring ability. She’s a very good 3-point shooter and not just right from the arc, she can step back two or three feet and really stretch a defense. The bonus to it is she’s starting to develop the ability to score off the dribble too. We lost a lot of perimeter offense to graduation this year and we feel like Lindsey can step in and fill a big void right away in that area.”
You can expect more college signing news in multiple sports next week.
Thursday, April 16th, 2009
Enough already
I fully understand the NFL is king in the United States, but I had my fill of NFL Draft hype months ago. I don’t think ESPN waited for the Super Bowl to end before it started hyping this year’s draft. Did I mention the draft doesn’t happen until April 25?
While doing the TV/Radio boxes for the past few weeks, I noticed ESPN is doing 30-minute “On the Clock” specials. This is in addition to its daily NFL Live program, countless draft-centric magazines, Web sites with mock drafts and let’s not forget the NFL Network.
I enjoy football just as much as the next guy, but does anybody really care this much about the draft? Even hardcore draft followers have to tire of the incessant coverage at some point, right?
Monday, April 13th, 2009
Spring football resumes Tuesday
The University of Wyoming football team returns to spring practice Tuesday after being off since last Thursday for the long Easter weekend.
Hope the players enjoyed the time off because you can expect the return this week to be just as physical and intense as the first eight practices.
The Cowboys will scrimmage a litle bit on Thursday, and will have their second full scrimmage of the spring at 9 a.m. Saturday.
The pure physicallity of spring practices has been one of the biggest stories under first-year coach Dave Christensen. Injuries have mounted, and 13 players didn’t practice last Thursday because of injury or illness. Christensen let up a little bit in that practice, but insists he won’t back down on what he and his staff are trying to establish .
“The program’s not going to change, the players in it are going to have to change,” he said.
We’ve heard that as much this spring as former coach Joe Glenn saying: “Powder River, Let ‘er Buck.”
A renewed confidence in senior quarterback Karsten Sween, and the overall grasp of Christensen’s spread offense also have been big stories this spring.
The defense has been hit hard by injuries and illness, especially along the defensive line and at linebacker, but there have been some bright spots.
Sophomore inside linebacker Brian Hendricks looks to be a more than solid replacement for departed senior Ward Dobbs. With no disrespect intended toward Dobbs, Hendricks is the better athlete.
The Gipson brothers — Marcell and Tashaun — appear to be more comfortable and improved at both cornerback positions. And, redshirt junior Jamichael Hall has the inside track to be the starting strong safety.
It would be nice to see the Pokes get outside for a practice soon to see how they are at punting and kicking. That’s kind of difficult in the cozy confines of the indoor practice facility.
There is still a lot of work ahead for this team before its season-opener Sept. 5 at home against Weber State. But some good work has been done in the first eight practices.
If anything, the practices certainly aren’t dull.