Taxes Are Done; Lehigh Practice Rolls On

The taxes are done, the checks are submitted, and it's time to get onto the important business of updating you about Lehigh's upcoming spring football schedule.

Practice #9 was Wednesday evening
Practice #10 was Friday evening (tonight)
Practice #11 is Saturday morning
Practice #12 is Sunday evening (2:45PM-5:00PM)

Furthermore, this Sunday morning there will be a Youth Football Coaches' Clinic. It will include on-field instruction, classroom classes, drill work, and lunch. Also, you'll get the opportunity to sit in with Lehigh coaches for the Lehigh positional meetings and spring practice. All for $15 - and you don't even need to RSVP - walk-ups are welcome.

8:30 am-9:30 am: Registration at Cundey Varsity House
9:30 am-1:00 pm: Youth football coaches clinic
1:00 pm-1:30 pm: Lunch (provided)
1:45 pm-2:30 pm: Lehigh football positional meetings
2:45 pm-5:00 pm: Lehigh football team practice

I would be remiss if I didn't mention the two latest articles on Lehigh's spring practice, one from the Brown & White and the other from the Express-Times.

Your quotes (and there are many) showcasing what the 2005 Mountain Hawks will look like:

With the sting of a painful season-ending playoff defeat still heavy on their minds, the Lehigh University Mountain Hawks opened spring practice by plotting a new course toward the 2005 college football season.

They plan to turn devastation into motivation.

"I think about that game every day," said defensive tackle Josh Cooney, an Allentown Central Catholic product. "I remember that game as being a dogfight. It makes me feel a little better knowing that we lost to the (eventual) national champions.

"But we still lost the game."

"I think, overall, we're a veteran squad," said Borda, a second-team All-Patriot League quarterback who will have his whole cast of wideouts including Porter, Gerran Walker and likely Adam Kovacs at his disposal. "Every practice we're out here, everybody gets a little more comfortable with each other. In terms of job security, I'm not taking anything for granted. Everybody's competing, no job is assured."

“Spring ball gives the younger guys a chance to get to know the system and our concepts,” said junior offensive lineman Adam Selmasska. “As young players, they spend a lot of the fall playing scout team so the spring allows them the chance to really concentrate on our plays. For the older players, these practices allow us to refresh our knowledge and perfect our technique.”

“We came out really enthused in the first week and have been able to maintain that,” Selmasska said. “Now that we have the plays in, we just need to improve our execution. What is most impressive is that a lot of the guys have really stepped up their games in order to win a position for the fall.”

...

Head Coach Pete Lembo conveyed some specific goals for his unit this spring, including seeing a tougher team in the fall.

“We wanted to develop a toughness, both mentally and physically, on our team,” Lembo said. “We went about doing this by creating one-on-one situations for our players, as well as game situations for both the offense and defense.”

“We wanted to improve our consistency in all three facets of the game,” Lembo said. “All three units — offense, defense and special teams — had success last year but not enough consistency.”

“We use the spring practices to gain a thorough evaluation of each and every player,” Lembo said. “We do this by filming everything on the field and evaluating it extensively. We review the film with the players in position meetings so they can learn from them. We have also limited what we have installed so far in order to allow the players to not have to think and be able to play at full speed more often.”

...

Lembo is optimistic about the team’s progress so far this spring.

“I am fairly pleased with the productivity at the halfway point,” Lembo said. “We have had a real good energy and enthusiasm to our practices and you can tell this is a close-knit group of guys.”

"While there's excellent competition going on for playing time, I also like the emotion, the coaching of each other, that I'm seeing... I'm seeing a lot of good signs."

"[Replacing 3 offensive line starters is] one of the biggest question marks going into the fall," Lembo said... "These were some real quality players with a lot of experience. After their experience, those three offensive linemen were tough kids. You could really count on them in critical situations."

“The great thing about our offense is that it is so flexible; it allows you to gravitate and deviate week-to-week and year-to-year based on your personnel,” Lembo said. “At the same time, I feel good about the competition between Landon Maggs and Peter Morelli at the tight end position.”

Not for nothing, but.. check out #1 and #2 on my original list of things to watch in spring practice. Look familiar?

Next week: NFL Draft Super Special Features, including full Text of Adam Bergen Interview from Scout.com; Brown/White Game