article Why We Do What We Do.... the Timing of Spring Practice

When the KHSAA allowed football coaches to move their spring practice window to later in the spring, many programs chose to move their practice dates to April or May. That gives them better weather and allows college coaches to visit and watch practice. We have continued to do ours immediately after basketball and here is why:

1- if there are injuries, we have more time to recover before the season begins. By going early, we get the most opportunities for live contact. I think live contact is very beneficial, but it is tough to get live full-speed reps, and take the ball carrier to the ground, once you get to August. In preseason and inseason, we try to go live but stay on our feet. But, I think we do benefit by TACKLING to the ground in the spring. I like the extra recovery time that our bodies have available.

2-By going early, our track guys can get back to track immediately. And, they can do both. If it were later in the spring, they could not do both. And, some kids would pick spring football over track... I don't want that to happen. We went early last year at Mercer and our guys went on to win a state title in track. And, this is still HS. We want our guys to do everything while they can.

3- It breaks up the offseason best. Outside of the weightroom and Perfection workouts, our guys have a good break from football and their bodies recover until July 10th. They also have time and the opportunity to watch Hudl and review what was new to them in the spring. We can hit those problem areas as needed between now and July 10th and have more flexibility in doing so.

4- Even though college coaches miss our spring practice, they can still come during the evaluation period and watch our guys run routes, throw, do drill work, etc. Most of the time, they can still see what they want to see.

5- Our high profile basketball athletes have a very active spring in April on the AAU circuit. I do NOT want them to have to pick between spring football and AAU basketball if I can help it. Basketball is important to them and I get that. You can be great in both, and I am good with working with a kid that wants to do both at a high level. We have a Mr. Basketball candidate on our team that has been to every single spring practice, worked hard, and had a great attitude. I am thankful we have him and I am going to work with him.

We finish tomorrow with our spring scrimmage. We are banged up a little bit and we have had some very cold days. But, overall our time has been productive and we have had some very much needed live reps, 11 vs. 11. Besides, it spring time in Kentucky. Some times March weather is better than April weather. It supposes to be cold!

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That's good your track coach allows them to go to spring ball.

That's good your track coach allows them to go to spring ball.

Yes, it is. Terry Yeast is our track coach. Tremendous coach and person. And, obviously it didn't hurt our track season.

Do you get your Baseball guys out?

...and, lets not forget reason #6 @ChiefSmoke . (for some of us)

Kentucky's Spring Turkey Season April 15th-May 7th :lol2:

Do you get your Baseball guys out?

No. When I was at Mason, and Chris Ullery & Mike Murphy were the baseball coaches, some kids wanted to do both and we tried to make it work. When Ty Sargent was our QB, he came for offense and went to baseball after that.

We did it that way to help both programs. Some kids would have chosen spring football over baseball and neither program wanted that to happen. Coach Ullery was our DC and Mike Murphy did all the dirty work to run our football program. It was very much an old school set up in how we were all friends and connected.

I like our baseball guys here at Mercer. It is just a different set up and we want our guys having fun and playing baseball. We get our baseball guys for Perfection Workouts in January and it has worked well doing it that way here.

No. When I was at Mason, and Chris Ullery & Mike Murphy were the baseball coaches, some kids wanted to do both and we tried to make it work. When Ty Sargent was our QB, he came for offense and went to baseball after that.

 

We did it that way to help both programs. Some kids would have chosen spring football over baseball and neither program wanted that to happen. Coach Ullery was our DC and Mike Murphy did all the dirty work to run our football program. It was very much an old school set up in how we were all friends and connected.

 

I like our baseball guys here at Mercer. It is just a different set up and we want our guys having fun and playing baseball. We get our baseball guys for Perfection Workouts in January and it has worked well doing it that way here.

 

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Coach,

Just wanted you to know that I was inspired by your remembrance of your friend Coach Murph. Most successful programs have folks in the background that are selfless, that do not want to be in the spotlight, that have a genuine care and concern for the young people they are certainly helping just by example. In the turbulent world we live in, I can't think of a more honorable example than your friend exemplified. Best of luck this season!

No. When I was at Mason, and Chris Ullery & Mike Murphy were the baseball coaches, some kids wanted to do both and we tried to make it work. When Ty Sargent was our QB, he came for offense and went to baseball after that.

 

We did it that way to help both programs. Some kids would have chosen spring football over baseball and neither program wanted that to happen. Coach Ullery was our DC and Mike Murphy did all the dirty work to run our football program. It was very much an old school set up in how we were all friends and connected.

 

I like our baseball guys here at Mercer. It is just a different set up and we want our guys having fun and playing baseball. We get our baseball guys for Perfection Workouts in January and it has worked well doing it that way here.

 

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[ATTACH]60879[/ATTACH]

A funny story from one spring.....

we are getting ready for the spring football game and Murph does not want any baseball guys to play in the game because they have a game the next day. One of our baseball guys dressed out and came on the field. He threw a fit, threw down his helmet, etc. because I would not let him play in the game. Well, I had to hold him accountable but I could not run him because I didn't want to wear him out for a baseball game. What I did is after we completed spring football, I made him come in and put in every player's knee pads and thigh pads in their practice pants that we had just washed. At first he thought no big deal. After two pair and looking at the 40+ pants still remaining, he got frustrated and pretty upset. He got it done, but not the way he wanted to spend a day during spring break! :lol2:

We start spring football practice here on Monday, March 4th. Hope to have our spring scrimmage on 3/15. Go Titans!

Great insight as always Chief. I’m glad to see a football coach emphasizing the importance of track. When I played in high school not that long ago, our coach would always bring in players one on one for individual meetings immediately after football season to tell them about how important it is to do track during the football off-season as a way to stay in shape and work on fundamentals that could help them on the gridiron. A receiver or backfield player running sprints and linemen doing shotput and discus works on speed and strength that they may not otherwise develop, and I hope more coaches can continue to emphasize how track and football complement each other very smoothly.

We had a short 50 play scrimmage today. Trying to save bodies so we can have our Red-Blue Scrimmage next Friday. It was pretty cold and we were rough. But, we have a shot at having some pretty good football players and we had fun today. Hopefully those good football players can become a very good football TEAM.

Really good to get outside after two days inside, although we have a great indoor practice facility. Great to be playing football right now!

What school is that?

What school is that?

Mercer County

Snow was in the forecast and it was cold. But, we got better today and the kids had fun playing football.

We were back inside on Friday.