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Today was a day of firsts for the Fordham University football squad as in the Rams experienced their first practice in full pads and their first double session practice of camp in preparation for the first scrimmage of camp which will occur on Thursday night.
While the defense appeared ahead of the offense on Monday the offense makes strides today, completing some long passes and successfully executing on two-point drills. The defense, not to be outdone, came up with some interceptions and stopped the offense from scoring in the evening's two-minute drill.
"It was a good effort for the first two-a-day of the year but we still have to work on being more consistent," said head coach Joe Moorhead. "We need to go at the same speed from the first drill of practice to the last drill if we want to be successful this year."
Today we will also start our position-by-position breakdown of the 2013 Rams, starting with the quarterbacks.
Head coach Joe Moorhead has to find a replacement for last year's starter, Ryan Higgins, who threw for almost 3,000 yards and 14 touchdowns, ranking 16th in the NCAA FCS in passing yards/game, 26th in total offense (257.0) and 35th in passing efficiency (139.99).
The good news for Moorhead is that he has two experienced signal callers returning, juniors Mike Nebrich and Peter Maetzold.
Nebrich is a transfer from Connecticut who stepped in and shared the quarterback duties for the Rams for the first three games of 2012 before suffering a season-ending injury in the Cornell game. He became the second quarterback in school history to rush for more than 100 yards in a game, rushing 22 times for 107 yards and one touchdown (six yards) at Villanova.
The 2011 Virginia State Player of the Year, Nebrich rushed 36 times for 162 yards (4.5 yards/rush) and four touchdowns and completed 14 of 23 passes for 105 yards and one score.
Maetzold appeared in three games as a sophomore in 2012 after seeing action in seven games as a freshman for the Rams, starting four. He completed 70 of 117 passes for 668 yards and four touchdowns in 2011, starting the first three games of the year. Maetzold completed 22 of 30 passes for 212 yards and two touchdowns (16 and 60 yards) in the Liberty Cup win over Columbia as a rookie and connected on 19 of 35 passes for 166 yards and one touchdown (19 yards) and scored on a 19-yard rush at Rhode Island.
A graduate of Friendswood High School in Friendswood, Texas, Maetzold was the number one ranked passing quarterback in south Texas by the Houston Chronicle in 2010, completing 284 of 456 passes (62% completion rate) for 3,693 yards. He set a school record at a school that has produced more than five Division I quarterbacks, scoring 53 touchdowns in 2010 (33 passing, 19 rushing, 1 receiving) and 85 in his high school career. Maetzold was a 2010 5-A Honorable Mention All-State selection as well as District MVP.
Junior Nick Glogau and freshman Brandon Fields are also in the quarterback mix. Last spring, Glogau completed 11 of 19 passes for 140 yards in the Spring Game. He is a graduate of graduate of Plano West Senior High School where he was an Academic All-State selection and served as a team captain.
Fields is a graduate of St. Michael High School in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where he was a two-star recruit on Rivals.com and Scout.com. He was named Area Player of the Year and First Team All-District in 2012, rushing for 682 yards and 14 touchdowns and passing for 1,789 yards and 15 touchdowns.
Notes
Role Reversals: Part of the morning practice was spent on position reversal drills where the offense practiced tackling and stripping the ball from a ball carrier and the defensive practiced running with the ball and blocking.
