Iowa State continues spring football workouts this week and coach Dan McCarney says the things his coaches see on the practice field this time of year help them decide who’ll play in the fall. McCarney says it “has a big impact on fall depth charts and the roles on the team.” He says they scrimmage more in the spring than the fall and have more time to evaluate things in the spring. McCarney says many of the decisions and evaluations will be made this spring.
McCarney says a good spring performance doesn’t guarantee that a player will be at the top of the depth chart in the fall. He says they have to keep the spots and earn them again in the fall, but McCarney says a lot of the evaluation of talent happens in the spring. McCarney says they have 12 of the 15 spring workouts where they can scrimmage in full pads and the coaches enjoy that part of spring practice the most.
He says getting on the field and being with the players is what coaching is all about and McCarney says “you do every thing you can to elevate the play of each of these guys. And coaching is about taking young men places they can’t take themselves.” Iowa State’s spring game is April 15th.
As the Iowa Hawkeyes continue spring football practice this week, one of the positions where coach Kirk Ferentz is looking for players to step up is at receiver. Key possession receiver Ed Hinkle graduated, leaving some less experienced players trying to catch on.
Drew Tate returns to start for the third year at quarterback, and Ferentz says developing the younger players behind Tate is another goal. Backup q-b Jason Mason though may be on the other end of the issue. Iowa opens the 2006 season September 2nd at home against Montana.