Friday, March 28, 2003

First week in the books for FIU Football spring practice

omething old and something new was the tone for Friday’s FIU football practice in full pads. Head coach Don Strock and his players worked on the one-back offense during the 90-minute workout, and for the first time to date, ran plays from scrimmage using a shotgun formation.

While Strock still doesn’t have a full stable of running backs with Diamos Demerritt (Miami/Norland HS) and Dravian Jones (Sebastian, Fla.) sitting out the spring with injuries, returning lettermen like Rashod Smith (Miami/Northwestern) and Jerrid Lundstedt (Homestead, Fla./South Dade) jockeyed for position on the depth chart.

A third returnee, Tori Robinson (Miami/Southridge) still appears slowed. After an injury-plagued freshman campaign, Robinson had bone spurs surgically removed from his right ankle over the winter. While he hasn’t missed any time this week, he has run with a limp.

“Right now, he’s a little rusty and limping a little bit,” said new running backs coach Tony Nathan. “But it’s my job to push him and let him know that he can do it. He’s still a little bit away but hopefully, next week he’ll be 100 percent and ready to go.”

During the team’s 11-on-11 drills, Strock had redshirt freshman quarterback Josh Padrick (Merritt Island, Fla.) taking snaps from the shotgun formation, something completely new in the FIU playbook. During last year’s inaugural season, Golden Panther quarterbacks Jamie Burke (Sarasota, Fla.) and David Tabor (Kissimmee, Fla.) took every snap from under center.

“Yea, we worked on [the shotgun] a little today,” said Strock. “It’s something we’ll basically use only on third down situations. It’s new for everyone and the spring is a great time to work on it.”

With five spring practices down and 10 more to go, Strock thought the team looked fairly crisp. “I was overall pleased with the week,” he said. “The guys worked hard and I can’t complain about their efforts. As they’ve matured and gotten older, they’ve made fewer mistakes. That’s how you win football games.”

Missing Friday’s practice because of injury were linebacker T.J. Singletary (Coconut Grove, Fla./Coral Gables) with a pulled right hamstring and wide receiver Andre Rollins (Miami/Carol City) with a right foot sprain. Both are listed as day-to-day.

After the weekend off, the team practices next Monday at 3:00 p.m., then Wednesday through Friday at FIU Stadium. On Saturday, April 5 at the North Miami Football Stadium, the team will participate in the first of two controlled scrimmages, starting a 10:30 a.m.