March 21, 2012
Photo Gallery
Bronx, N.Y. -
The calendar states that it's March 21st and that means two things. It's the second full day of spring and it's the first day of Fordham football's 2012 spring practice season.
Head coach Joe Moorhead and his new Fordham staff had their first look at the 2012 Rams on Murphy Field this morning as they attempt to institute new offensive, defensive and special teams game plans.
"It was good to get the guys on the field for the first day," said Moorhead. "We had a long offseason conditioning program and the guys worked very hard. It was good to finally have a chance to install our schemes, offensively, defensively and on special teams, and see the guys come out here and compete a bit."
The pace was fast but controlled as the team moved from drill to drill with a sense of urgency, a key to practices under Moorhead.
The practice featured the return of many of the players who were injured last year, including defensive lineman Justin Yancey, who missed all but one game last year, Zac Crosby, who missed the entire 2011 season following surgery, and Brett Biestek as well as other players who had offseason surgery. It also marked the return of offensive linemen Lloyd Morrison and defensive back Kassim Forbes, who both sat out last year.
The session today is the first of 15 NCAA allowed spring practices. These 15 practices must be completed within a period of 34 consecutive calendar days with only 12 spring practices allowing physical contact, but none earlier than the third practice session. Tackling is allowed in eight of the twelve contact sessions and up to three of the eight tackling sessions may be devoted to 11-on-11 scrimmages. The 2012 Spring Game counts as one of the three scrimmage days.
"We'll go in and look at the film from day one and see what we did well, fix what we did wrong and then come out and look to improve on Friday," said Moorhead.
The spring practice season will continue through Saturday, April 28th, when the Rams hold their annual Spring Game on Murphy Field.
Notes
The quarterbacks have switched from a yellow practice jersey to a green practice jersey... Players had their names taped on the front of their helmets to help the new coaches better identify the players... New quarterback coach and passing game coordinator Andrew Breiner put the quarterbacks through a drill where they would drop back to pass and, as they kept their feet moving, Breiner tossed bean bags at them to force them to avoid being hit by a bean bag... Former quarterback Doug Papy was on hand to assist with the coaching of the quarterbacks.
