Tiger Football kicks off spring practices
Cody Pruitt
The spring offseason is
in full stride for the East Texas Baptist University football
team as the new coaching
staff looks to intensely develop and prepare the Tigers for
the 2013 season. The NCAA
allows teams four weeks of
practice in the spring, and this
year the Tigers are utilizing
the two weeks prior to spring
break and the two weeks after spring break for practice.
The first week of practice began this
past Tuesday, Feb. 26
with the Tigers on the
field bright
and early
at 6 a.m. in
the frigid, cold and windy
weather.
The players and coaches
know the importance of preparation during spring ball,
and this four week grind is
critical for the players to embrace anything new.
“This spring is vital for
the new staff to get the players to buy in to the system
we are bringing in,” said new
running backs Coach Lee
Grimes. “You must have the
players already on campus
buy in to what we are doing
if we want to win games this
upcoming season.”
The new system on offense will require great preparation, and the coaches are
setting high expectations for
the players.
“We want to instill our
offense into these players,”
Grimes said. “We want to
teach them how to play at a
high level, with high intensity
and focus. We have to teach
them to play fast -- very fast
-- but without the mistakes
that seemed to plague the
team last season.”
There is a high level of
excitement from each of the players with the new
atmosphere and coaching
philosophies. “Our success
depends on how much we can learn this spring,” said
returning offensive lineman
Charles Williams. “Coach
Eargle’s system is effective. He believes in all of us, which is why we are putting
in so much so fast. We can
handle it though.”
