Florida A&M held their second scrimmage of the spring in a split practice that started on the practice field and ended with live plays inside of Bragg Memorial Stadium.
The improvement in understanding and executing head coach Alex Wood’s philosophy is becoming evident as players are beginning to separate themselves within the system.
Of crucial importance is the ability of quarterback Carson Royal to understand what the Rattler offense is trying to accomplish.
The day started with stretching, position drills, segment drills and special teams on the Rattler practice fields. With an audience of a couple hundred curious fans, changes have become evident.
Wood felt the day was a positive step for the team.
“I thought today was very competitive, which was good. That’s what we’re looking for…competition at all positions. We’re also looking for execution. For the first time, I saw in the first and second offense and defense execution that was clean with not too many penalties. We had a couple (penalties) and those were coaching and teaching moments. Overall, I thought it was a good day,” Wood said.
The first team offense started the scrimmage with a 10-play drive for a score. The second team offense also put up a score. But, the Rattler defense stiffened and began to come up with big plays as the practice ensued. The ebb and flow of practice was a product of the players beginning to understand what’s expected of them and now trying to put their talents into it.
Wood stated that Royal has begun to separate himself from the other quarterbacks in camp.
“Carson is coming along well. We’ve still got some work to do with him as far as some mechanical things throwing wise and making him super conscious of situations as he manages the game for us from an offensive perspective,” Wood said.
