The Alabama State football team wrapped up the first week of spring practice with a controlled, situational practice Saturday morning at Hornet Stadium.
The Hornets ran approximately 70 plays in full pads on the first of four scheduled Saturday practices, which lead into the annual Black and Gold Game Saturday, April 27 at 1 p.m. at The New ASU Stadium.
“It was a good opportunity to see the guys compete and get 70+ plays in to give us something to evaluate,” head coach Reggie Barlow said. “Offensively, we had six explosive plays of 20+ yards. Defensively, we had some guys do some good things, getting to the ball, particularly Lawrence Henderson who had several sacks. Overall, it was a good first week.”
Quarterbacks Daniel Duhart, Arsenio Favor, and Sam Gibson took equal reps running the offense, which worked specifically on down and distance situations – 1st and 10, 2nd and 8, 3rd and 8, and 3rd and 12 from various locations on the field.
“You’re going to have a lot of those situations in every game,” Barlow said. “The quicker we can adjust our minds to them, the better off we’ll be. We were thinking crumb (smaller) blessings today. It wasn’t so much about moving the ball up and down the field, but situational. If it’s first down, we want to figure out how to make it 2nd and 5. If it’s third and 8 and we’re on the opponent 30-yard line, we want to figure out how we can get it in field goal range for Bobby Wenzig. So, it’s a mindset behind all of it to work those key situations. We know it will come up every week.
The Hornets return to practice Tuesday at 11 a.m. at Hornet Stadium.
Source: Alabama State Sports Information