Q & A with head coach Bobby Hauck
8/18/2006 12:00:00 AM | Football
With a week of fall camp under their belts The University of Montana Grizzly football team will hold their first scrimmage of 2006 Saturday morning, August 19, in Washington-Grizzly Stadium, beginning around 10:10 a.m. The scrimmage is open to the public.
A question and answer segment from fourth-year Griz Head Coach Bobby Hauck on the first full week of practice in fall camp:
Q - What is your main focus at this point of fall camp?
A - ??The key for us right now is to fight through these next three days, which is our first part of fall camp. It??s the hardest part of training camp, because we??ll be going eight, nine, 10 days in a row.
??I??ve been really impressed with our players?? work ethic. They??ve drilled hard despite their fatigue, and they??re making progress despite the fact that they are all very tired.??
Q - What is the mind-set of your team after losing All-American running back Lex Hilliard for the season because of an Achilles injury this past Monday afternoon?
A - ??When you lose your best player it??s difficult for any football team to overcome. Obviously first and foremost we feel bad for Lex. For our football team the loss of Lex was a tremendous hit, not just in our running back depth, but also in our production offensively, from a leadership standpoint, and from an experience standpoint. To fill that gap, it is something that we??re going to have work hard on over the next few weeks, but hopefully we can get that done.
??With that being said, I like the way the way our guys have stepped up their level of play on both sides of the football. They know that we have that production gap to fill, and I am confident that they do just that.??
Q - Which players are standing out so far in fall camp?
A - ??Lex would be the first one I would point out until he got injured ?C he was playing great. (Senior) Mike Murphy, (junior) Kroy Biermann, and (senior) Dustin Dlouhy are all playing well at defensive end.
??The linebacking core looks sharp. At wide receiver, (juniors) Eric Allen Ryan Bagley in particular, along with (sophomores) Rob Schulte and Mike Ferriter are doing a good job.
??At quarterback, (senior) Josh Swogger looks to be on the money more-and-more every day, and our younger quarterbacks are really coming along too.
??Across the board I don??t think any one person has made a huge leap up, but I thought we were in pretty good shape coming out of spring ball and I was very comfortable with where we were at that point. As I said earlier, I like the fact that are players are fighting through things and improving on a daily basis.??
Q - What are your thoughts on the offensive line and tight end positions, which features several young players?
A - ??When you are dealing with several non-veteran players like we have on the O-line and at tight end, it??s always a race against the clock to get ready for the first game. It??s a battle to get everything in ?C to teach technique and to get the improvement you need to be game-ready. And certainly going to Iowa (Sept. 2) to open the season is a real test. Our offensive line is making huge strides daily, they look good, and their focus is great.
??Our tight end position is made up of two freshmen (Steven Pfahler and Robert Overton) and two redshirt freshmen (Dan Beaudin and Kevin Kalboe), and they are getting better every day. That??s what they need to do, because I have some publications that rank Iowa??s defensive line as the second best unit in the country; so we need to be ready to get out of the gate. Again, we are racing the clock to be ready for September 2nd.??
Q - What kind of scrimmage should we expect this Saturday morning, August 19th?
A - ??We have not had any live scrimmage reps in practice since the spring. We want to get our veteran players a few live reps at a game-type tempo, and then let our younger guys play a substantial number of snaps. I anticipate that it won??t be a very extended scrimmage and it will be fairly abbreviated. In spring practice we had a lot of live work. This fall we don??t need a great number of live reps. Everybody knows how to play for the most part at game speed, and when need to get to September 2nd healthy.??
Montana??s second and final scrimmage of fall camp is scheduled for Thursday morning (around 9:15 a.m.), August 24, in Washington-Grizzly Stadium.
A question and answer segment from fourth-year Griz Head Coach Bobby Hauck on the first full week of practice in fall camp:
Q - What is your main focus at this point of fall camp?
A - ??The key for us right now is to fight through these next three days, which is our first part of fall camp. It??s the hardest part of training camp, because we??ll be going eight, nine, 10 days in a row.
??I??ve been really impressed with our players?? work ethic. They??ve drilled hard despite their fatigue, and they??re making progress despite the fact that they are all very tired.??
Q - What is the mind-set of your team after losing All-American running back Lex Hilliard for the season because of an Achilles injury this past Monday afternoon?
A - ??When you lose your best player it??s difficult for any football team to overcome. Obviously first and foremost we feel bad for Lex. For our football team the loss of Lex was a tremendous hit, not just in our running back depth, but also in our production offensively, from a leadership standpoint, and from an experience standpoint. To fill that gap, it is something that we??re going to have work hard on over the next few weeks, but hopefully we can get that done.
??With that being said, I like the way the way our guys have stepped up their level of play on both sides of the football. They know that we have that production gap to fill, and I am confident that they do just that.??
Q - Which players are standing out so far in fall camp?
A - ??Lex would be the first one I would point out until he got injured ?C he was playing great. (Senior) Mike Murphy, (junior) Kroy Biermann, and (senior) Dustin Dlouhy are all playing well at defensive end.
??The linebacking core looks sharp. At wide receiver, (juniors) Eric Allen Ryan Bagley in particular, along with (sophomores) Rob Schulte and Mike Ferriter are doing a good job.
??At quarterback, (senior) Josh Swogger looks to be on the money more-and-more every day, and our younger quarterbacks are really coming along too.
??Across the board I don??t think any one person has made a huge leap up, but I thought we were in pretty good shape coming out of spring ball and I was very comfortable with where we were at that point. As I said earlier, I like the fact that are players are fighting through things and improving on a daily basis.??
Q - What are your thoughts on the offensive line and tight end positions, which features several young players?
A - ??When you are dealing with several non-veteran players like we have on the O-line and at tight end, it??s always a race against the clock to get ready for the first game. It??s a battle to get everything in ?C to teach technique and to get the improvement you need to be game-ready. And certainly going to Iowa (Sept. 2) to open the season is a real test. Our offensive line is making huge strides daily, they look good, and their focus is great.
??Our tight end position is made up of two freshmen (Steven Pfahler and Robert Overton) and two redshirt freshmen (Dan Beaudin and Kevin Kalboe), and they are getting better every day. That??s what they need to do, because I have some publications that rank Iowa??s defensive line as the second best unit in the country; so we need to be ready to get out of the gate. Again, we are racing the clock to be ready for September 2nd.??
Q - What kind of scrimmage should we expect this Saturday morning, August 19th?
A - ??We have not had any live scrimmage reps in practice since the spring. We want to get our veteran players a few live reps at a game-type tempo, and then let our younger guys play a substantial number of snaps. I anticipate that it won??t be a very extended scrimmage and it will be fairly abbreviated. In spring practice we had a lot of live work. This fall we don??t need a great number of live reps. Everybody knows how to play for the most part at game speed, and when need to get to September 2nd healthy.??
Montana??s second and final scrimmage of fall camp is scheduled for Thursday morning (around 9:15 a.m.), August 24, in Washington-Grizzly Stadium.
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