“It was better today” said Coach Fedora “It was nice to get some live work in and some good hitting and all that will lead us into Friday.”
The new guys from the JUCO ranks have come in and had a little trouble adjusting to the offense, particularly David Rue.
“He has still got a long way to go, he just needs to spend some time learning what to do because if you don’t know what to do then you will have a tough time doing anything full speed.”
Coach Fedora was impressed with the way that the backfield played today despite some troubles later in the day.
“I have been pleased with what we have seen out of the backfield, we put the ball on the ground there at the end which wasn’t a good thing, but overall there were some good things over there.”
On the defensive side of the ball there are a couple of guys that have really stood out to the Golden Eagle's head man.
“Eddie Hicks has really been doing a great job for us and I see Raashod Byrd coming through more and more so there are some guys out there that are starting to step up. We will know a whole lot more after that scrimmage Friday night.”
With the departure of Shawn Nelson the tight end position has been hot with competition. Jonathon Massey seems to be emerging as one of the guys that could step up and grab the spot.
“I can already tell that Massey is better than he was at the bowl game”
said Fedora “He has gotten more physical and he is doing the things that he needs to do to be a better player. Also, he really has deceptive speed, I mean, he runs a lot better than people think.”
It was obvious that Coach Fedora hadn’t put in his entire offense last year. Now, with a year under his belt, he is experimenting with some new stuff that he hopes will benefit the offense.
“We have got some new things going in just to tinker with it and to see if it could be good for us this year and see how this team handles it” said Fedora “We have got to find out what this team is, we have got to find an identity on this offense.”
One of the big areas that concerned Southern Miss fans last year was the lack of a consistent pass rush. Coach Fedora thinks that this won’t be as much of a problem this year.
“It’s too early to tell, but I will know more after Friday. Last year we got much better as the year went on and we did really well in the bowl game with it and we have all of those guys back except for Eric and big Dotson.”
Extras
-It was a rainy day all day, but that can do nothing help this team prepare for the possibility of bad weather when the season begins.
-USM spent the whole practice in the stadium as opposed to the practice fields.
-Chico Hunter was out there today. He has been recovering from an injury all spring.