JOURNAL SPORTS
RUSTON – With four fall camp practices complete, the Louisiana Tech football team continues to focus on improving daily and applying concepts from meetings to the playing field.
“At this point, it is just to get better from practice three and I think we got that done,” defensive coordinator Scott Power said. “We wanted to run the ball better and tackle better than we did last practice. Every day we teach new concepts, so guys are learning and applying them to the field. They did a good job of that and we will try to do the same thing when we come out here for practice five.”
One of the major themes of camp thus far has been the focus on meeting rising expectation levels.
“Yesterday in our meetings, our coaches raised our expectation levels,” stated defensive lineman Deshon Hall. “We took a step in the right direction today. We made those adjustments that Coach Power asked us and we have to keep making adjustments and improving as we raise those expectations throughout fall camp.”
In addition to improving each day, some things that have impressed Power about the LA Tech defense are the players’ retention of information, added depth and willingness to show up every day ready to work.
“I am impressed with our guys and how we have retained our information in the spring and the work they put in over the summer,” Power observed. “I think we have improved our depth from day one to where we are now. Everyone has bought into what we do and comes to work every day. It has been a really fun group to coach and work with. I want to see continued growth and improvement from our players. They have been really receptive so far in camp and I do not expect that to change.”
NORTHWESTERN STATE: Every preseason football camp has mileposts, and Northwestern State hit a pair Tuesday morning.
Not only did the Demons don full pads for the first time, they did so at the one-week point of training camp.
“I think more importantly than talking about whether we’re in full pads or soft shells or just helmets is the consistency in execution,” fifth-year head coach Brad Laird said. “We’re six practices in. As we keep installing in all three phases, we have to continue to keep up. The consistency has not been there like I like it. Yes, it’s early on, but from an offensive and defensive standpoint, every part of practice is important.
“We were in full pads today, and there were a few live sessions, but there were a few sessions where we were thud. Those are just as important as the ones that are full go.”
The longer camp wears on, the less likely players are to relish workouts.
That wasn’t the case Tuesday.
“We’ve been looking forward to today for a long time,” said junior defensive lineman JaBralen Yarber. “Today was a very good first day in pads.”
NSU will conduct its first preseason scrimmage at around 9:45 Saturday morning.
Photo courtesy of Louisiana Tech