Indiana University Athletics
Inside the Huddle with Bill Lynch
4/6/2007 12:00:00 AM | Football
April 6, 2007
Prior to Saturday's second spring scrimmage, Assistant Head Coach Bill Lynch sat down with IUHOOSIERS.com to talk about what he expects from the team and others spring items.
On spring practice:
"We have had a really good spring and during this particular week, the defense has made really good strides. The defense is made up of a lot of young players that are making great progress. On the defensive line, some of those guys have made some great strides and at linebacker, particularly the second group, they are really young, but they have really improved. In the secondary, we made a move there and are trying Nick Polk at safety. He is an outstanding football player and we like the looks of that move so far. Offensively, the development of our young offensive lineman is critical, so that is something that we evaluate and watch on a daily basis."
On the first scrimmage:
"The first scrimmage was like most first scrimmages with some good and some bad action. Football is not like any other sport in the sense that you can't practice tackling and you can't practice holding on to the ball with someone hitting you or getting hit from many different angles. You can't practice tackling in the off season and those are things that always show up in a first scrimmage. There were some turnovers and some missed tackles and that's just part of the game. It's not like basketball where you can play it year round. We had some missed tackles and dropped some balls. We have to get that corrected, but it's not all that unusual for a first scrimmage. Overall, we had good effort. We have to keep in mind what we are trying to accomplish and that is to evaluate our personnel. We want to know who our top fifty are as we head out of spring."
On Saturday's scrimmage:
"It's natural to look at it in terms of offense and defense, but as coaches we have to make sure we look at it as individual development and weighing our personnel. It is real important when it's over that we are able to have a fair evaluation of each player and see where they are heading into the summer. That's the important thing about the spring and with a football team, it's about developing individuals. That is certainly what we are looking for in this second scrimmage. We also want to see who has made strides from the first scrimmage to the second."
On the redshirt freshmen:
"We have been happy with their development. Ben Chappell has played well at quarterback. Having redshirted last year at wide receiver, Terrance Turner is going to be a guy that we think we can count on in the fall. At running back, Trea Burgess is a young man that we redshirted and we think he is going to be a good football player. The offensive line is where the biggest evaluation is taking place because we have all young redshirt freshmen in Alex Perry, Mike Stark, Cody Faulkner, James Brewer and Jarrod Smith. There are a lot of young faces out there that each day you see how they react to different situations."
On the special teams:
"We feel we will be a better special teams unit overall because we have more team speed and more depth in speed positions. In special teams, so much is speed and the ability to cover and make plays. We obviously have some outstanding returners that stand out. Guys like Marcus Thigpen and James Bailey, they can give you something on kickoffs. Tracy Porter on the punt return is obviously important as he can be an impact guy back there. We feel that we are solid with Austin Starr as out kicker, but we have to find our punter. That is one area from a depth standpoint that this summer will be critical for those guys to make individual improvements."
