Football catches spring fever

New Eastern Football Head Coach Dean Hood described what his initial experience as a head coach was like."It's like someone put a whole bunch of ingredients in a blender and put it on high with no top on," Hood said. "There are so many things involved in being a head coach that you don't realize when you're an assistant."

The former Wake Forest defensive coordinator said being on the field with the players once spring practice started on March 31 eased the transition.

"It's to the point now where I'm enjoying myself because I get to be on the field with the players," Hood said. "It was just paperwork and policymaking before that."

Eastern's spring practices will officially conclude when the Colonels play their annual spring game at Roy Kidd Stadium Sunday at 4 p.m.

However, this spring game will not only be Hood's first as Eastern's head coach, it will also be the first time the majority of this group of Colonel players will be coached by someone other than Danny Hope.

With a coaching change, changes in strategy often occur. This case is not an exception as Hood brought in new schemes on both sides of the ball. But the Eastern coach said the players have adjusted well during the spring.

"The players have done a good job of responding to the new coaching style, which isn't necessarily better than Coach Hope's, but it's different," Hood said. "They understand what's expected and they're doing what we are asking of them."

A coaching change and a different playbook are not the only obstacles facing the Colonels as spring practice comes to a close. Eastern lost 20 seniors off of the 2007 team, many of which were starters.

Among the notable losses for Eastern were running backs Mark Dunn and Bobby Washington, who accounted for the majority of the Colonels' rushing yards. Defensive back Derrick Huff, who was named to the Walter Camp Football Foundation All-American Team, was another senior from last season's team.

Hood admits the large senior class was a cause for concern. However, the Colonel coach said he has been impressed with the returning players during spring practice and was quick to point out last year's team also had a sizable junior class.

"The good news, though, is that there were 17 juniors on last year's team and all of them are quality players," Hood said. "Hopefully these (players) will step up and take on leadership roles for the team."

Hood said the entire team has performed "better than expected" in spring practice and mentioned he was impressed with the new group of Colonel running backs and the progress the defensive line has made.

Another group of players seeing increased time on the practice field are backup quarterbacks Cody Watts and Trevor Hoskins. The sophomore duo has taken all of the snaps during spring practice while junior quarterback Allan Holland recovers from a shoulder injury.

However, the injury has not kept Holland off of the field altogether.

"I've been taking as many mental reps as I can," Holland said. "I'm always standing behind the line, watching the plays and trying to learn little things about the offense."

The Hazard native expressed how eager he was to get back on the field.

"My main goal is to get healthy and to get the receivers and runningbacks up here in July to work on one-on-ones against each other," Holland said. "If we can do that, we will be ready to go by the time two-a-days come around."

Hood also said the work the players put in over the summer will be a key to Eastern's success on the field next season.

"The time period between the end of spring practice and fall camp is where we're going to win or lose football games," Hood said. "They have the knowledge now and from spring to fall the players need to get into the best shape of their lives, learn the playbook and watch film. But if they sit on the couch all summer and eat chips and play Nintendo, then we're not going to be very good."

Freshman wide receiver Shannon Davis said he plans to spend his summer doing the former.

"I just want to work harder this summer, get stronger and put on about 10 pounds in the weight room," Davis said. "My goal is to be the best receiver in the OVC next season."

As for the spring game itself, the fans will see everything the Colonels have learned in practice. The offense will run plays from all of the formations they have learned thus far and the defense will be allowed to blitz during the scrimmage, Hood said. The first team offense and defense will also be going up against each other during the game and a unique scoring system will be used to determine the winner.

Hood encouraged fans to come out to the game for other reasons in addition to the Maroon-White scrimmage.

"I hope we can get a ton of people to come out to the spring game," Hood said. "We're going to be giving away free t-shirts, and there's going to be a cookout after the game where fans can meet the players."

Admission to the spring game is free for all fans and the post-game cookout costs $5, with a limited number of tickets available.

There will also be a championship ring ceremony after the game to honor the Colonels' 2007 OVC Championship team.