Huskie Outsider

The Huskies completed their fourth indoor morning practice of the spring season today. These practices are much different than the regular season practices. The Huskies finished their core workouts a few weeks ago, and they are using the spring practices for conditioning and teaching. The players wear helmets, shoulder pads and shorts. There is no tackling or hitting.

“The practices have been good,” said Huskies Head Coach Brian Towriss. “We’ve been able to spend time on fundamentals which we often do not get enough time to do during the season.”

This morning the coaches spent time on pursuit and containment on special teams and defense. They took time to talk about proper pursuit angles and tackling techniques. All of this will help make the team better in the fall.

“These types of drills are especially good for the younger guys who have not seen as much game action as some of the vets,” added Towriss.

The first few practices of the spring were mostly individual sessions where the coaches worked on technique with the players. There were some one-on-ones as well. The past few practices have seen a little more “team” stuff with some skeleton being worked on.

On offense the Receivers are shining right now. Rory Kohlert, who really came on at the end of last season, is leading the pack. Braeden George, Garrett Burgess and Garrett Bolen are having strong spring sessions.

On Defence, Lineman Joel Seutter continues to impress. Safety Bryce McCall is standing out in the secondary with his natural football instincts. Corner Cody Halseth has improved his coverage skills and looks like he will make a bigger contribution this year. Young Linebackers Charlie Powers, Brodie Rothe and Stephen Dereniwski are all making the most of extra playing time and quickly improving their skills.

It’s great to see some of the veterans in mid-season trash talk form as well. Quarterback Laurence Nixon, on his first pass of the season four practices ago, threw a deep touchdown pass beating Corner Grant Shaw. Nixon shouted, “Good morning Grant Shaw,” loud enough that the entire building knew what happened.

Fast forward two practices later when Shaw let a receiver get by him on the first play and baited Nixon to throw. Nixon took the bait, launched a deep pass and watched as Shaw turned on the jets and made a great knockdown. Shaw is a quiet guy and just looked back at Nixon while the rest of the DBs “spoke” on his behalf. That moment was priceless.

All of this trash-talking is done in good fun and improves the competition in the practices.

Filed under: Off Season Tagged: | bolen, Burgess, Dereniwski, george, halseth, Kohlert, mccall, nixon, powers, rothe, Seutter, shaw, towriss