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Football
team opens Spring practice Saturday Just two months removed from the Galleryfurniture.com Bowl, the football team is ready to start up again as spring practice begins Saturday. With just 10 seniors lost from last season, the Horned Frogs will begin practice with an experienced team with higher expectations from last season. With the transfer of former starter Casey Printers, the quarterback battle will present the most glamorous competition between the four returnees.
Head coach Gary Patterson said Sean Stilley, who will be a senior next season, is going into practice as the starter mostly because of the experience and leadership he brings to the team. “(Sean) Stilley is the man going into practice,” Patterson said. “The others (quarterbacks) are all good, but they’re all young and they just haven’t taken the snaps.” Stilley said he has worked hard and earned the right to be in the starting role. “I’ve waited awhile for this opportunity,” Stilley said. “I’m the senior now, and I’ve worked hard, and I think I’ve made a lot of people believe in me. “This is my year because I’ve been here. This is my fourth coach (offensive coordinator), and I’ve learned something new from each one of them.” Stilley said it’s more difficult for the other quarterbacks (Brandon Hassell, Zack Moore and Tye Gunn) to run the offense because they were all freshmen in their first or second year this past season. “You can only practice so much as opposed to getting real game experience,” Stilley said. “I was fortunate to get experience last season, but I was clueless when I was first coming out of high school.” Gunn, who will be a redshirt freshman, said Printers’ absence eaves a question mark at quarterback but that Stilley deserves to be the starter going into practice. “Sean is the starter but there are three other guys there, too,” Gunn said. “I want to set my goals high, and I definitely want to play next season. “The transition out of high school was tough but I’ve been working hard and learning a lot. I’m starting to come along a lot better with the offense and reading defenses.” But Patterson said building overall depth and fine-tuning the offense and defense will be the biggest goals to accomplish during the next few weeks. Patterson said areas of concern are along the defensive line and in the secondary where there is more competition and people are still being moved around. “We have four guys coming back in the secondary with (Marvin) Godbolt moving into (Charlie) Owens’ spot at weak safety,” he said. “Then Jared Smitherman can probably move in at strong safety. But, the backups are still a concern.” The defensive end spots still need to be solidified after losing two starters from last season, Patterson said. “(Bo) Schobel is coming along slowly in his recovery (from an injury last season) and Ranorris Ray is a young guy who can step in along with a few others and possibly start,” he said. He said depth also needs to be built behind junior Chad Pugh and senior John Turntine at starting defensive tackle spots. He also said the line will be one of the team’s strengths, though, once everyone can get healthy. Patterson said the offense looks good heading into practice as well. “We return two experienced running backs as well as 14 of 15 from our offensive line,” he said. “We lost our top two tight ends, but we’ve still got a lot there with Stanley Moss, Quint Ellis and a couple others.” Patterson said the team still needs to make improvements, but has the necessary tools to make a run for the Conference USA title next season. “We need to be better playmakers and create more turnovers and not give up big plays on defense,” he said. “On offense we need to run the ball better and cut down on penalties and turnovers. Stilley said the team is really coming together. “The seniors are taking control, and the young guys are stepping up in leadership too,” he said. “This offseason was like nothing I’ve seen before with all the work we did.” |
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