Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell Football Completes First Week of Spring Practice
4/2/2010 8:00:00 AM | Football
April 2, 2010
LEWISBURG, Pa. - Underneath a sunny sky that turned to artificial lighting as darkness fell upon Lewisburg during the final 30 minutes of practice, the Bucknell football team completed its first week of spring practice Friday evening at Christy Mathewson-Memorial Stadium. Temperatures approached 80 degrees for the second consecutive day and the Bison took advantage of the summer-like weather for another spirited two-and-one-half hour session.
Bucknell, which practiced five times in the seven days since it opened spring camp last Saturday and is now one-third of the way through its 15 spring practices, covered a lot of situations during Friday's up-tempo session. New head coach Joe Susan, who seemed to be overseeing practice more so than he did in his initial workout as Bucknell's head coach last Saturday, and his staff had the Bison work on punting and fielding punts, field goals and point-after touchdowns and third-down situations, both 11-on-11 and 7-on-7. Additionally, there was plenty of individual skill work.
"They catch onto the pace," mentioned Susan about how the players were adjusting to the new coaching staff. "The pace is a fast pace. I don't know how the pace was prior to this, but we make the most use out of our time. Some of it is the program. It is the coaching staff. It is the managers. It will help us win games."
During the third-down work, Susan made a game of it and devised a scoring system. The defense ended up winning both the 11-on-11 and 7-on-7 drills, with an Ahkiel White interception one of the highlights on the defensive side of the ball.
"I still think we are ahead defensively compared to our offense," said Susan. "I thought the passing game offensively really took a step today in terms of both definition of the routes, the quarterbacks making decisions and just the pace of everything was better today. That's refreshing."
Even though it was the third consecutive day with a practice, Susan was pleased with what he saw throughout.
"(The players') effort has been outstanding," he commented. "From a skill standpoint we are actually better than I thought we were. We just need to develop the offensive line. Some of these younger guys like Josh Phillip and Andre Shields have really shown they have the potential to help us right away."
Bucknell was initially scheduled to practice Saturday morning, but the session was moved to Friday evening, giving the players and coaches the weekend off. Many of the coaches, including Susan, have plans to visit their families who have not yet moved to Central Pennsylvania.
"The good thing is we have some kids nicked," said Susan. "We went three days in a row. I've given them two days off. Tomorrow counts as the required 24-hour period for this week and Sunday counts as the 24-hour period for next week. So we should get some extended work next week when they get back."
Bucknell's next practice is scheduled for Tuesday evening from 5:30-7:30 p.m. on the grass practice field adjacent to Christy Mathewson-Memorial Stadium.
