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While temperatures in the mid-30s, combined with the rain and wind,
did not come as much of a surprise to anyone on the field, a new
player practicing with the team did come as a surprise to some, as
senior men's basketball player Levi Dyer joined in on practice as a
punter. An all-state punter during his prep days at Eaton High
School in Eaton, Colo., Dyer came to Thursday's practice just three
days removed from the Illinois State men's basketball team's
season-ending loss to Dayton (55-48) Monday in the second round of
the National Invitation Tournament.
Well aware of his abilities on the basketball court, head coach
Denver Johnson invited Dyer out to practice with the team during its
spring camp to see what the 6-foot-11 basketball center could
contribute to the Redbird football team.
"We knew about Levi coming out of high school, as he was a
tremendous punting prospect then," said Johnson. "We're thrilled
that he's out here with us. We'll give him a look and see how it
goes."
Following Dyer's welcoming to the team during punting drills, the
rest of the Redbird kickers got some work in, including extra
points. Despite a sharp wind blowing out of the east, sophomore
Tyler Funk went 6-for-6 in extra-point attempts, while senior Kevin
Mazur was 3-for-6 and sophomore Steven Fetzer was 3-for-7 in
point-after attempts.
Raising the intensity level of the team's defensive effort was
one of the main goals of first-year defensive coordinator David
Ross.
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"I really liked and appreciated our players' passion and emotion
(Thursday)," said Ross. "They displayed a great desire to get better
on the field. This was the first time (this spring) that we lined up
in a team formation, and the things that I'm pleased about are the
intangibles, such as how hard the players worked (Thursday)."
In a change from Tuesday's opening practice, the Redbirds
implemented numerous running plays into their offensive scheme
Thursday. In the 7-on-7 drill, Illinois State ran the ball 12 times,
compared with just nine passes. Senior quarterback Kevin Brockway
was a perfect 4-for-4 in passing during the drill, with two of those
throws going to tight end Kedrick Meredith. Redshirt freshman Drew
Kiel was 3-for-4 in pass attempts, while he also made a nice handoff
to tailback Cortes Rice, who broke a tackle and ran the ball down
the sideline. Sophomore Preston Earl also worked well with the
Redbird tailbacks, as he recorded five handoffs during his time on
the field, including two straight to redshirt freshman Clifton
Gordon.
"Our tailbacks did a good job of getting some runs in (Thursday),
while our offensive line did a good job during their first day in
pads," said offensive coordinator Jim Williams. "Our goal (Thursday)
was to focus on the running game and get an aggressive, physical
attitude coming off of the line of scrimmage."
Illinois State will look to keep the intensity high Saturday,
when it takes the field again for the first of two straight
practices scheduled for this weekend.
[Text from file received from
Keith Trivitt, media relations graduate assistant,
Illinois
State University] |
