By Bryan Bloodworth
NORMAL – Illinois State football coach Brock Spack feels the momentum, likes the talk, and what he saw in winter conditioning drills from the bulk of a team that played for the FCS national championship last season.
But now, said the seventh-year head coach, it’s time for the Redbirds to shift their focus from last year and start building toward another championship run this year.
“I feel the momentum from last year’s success,” said Spack, whose team begins spring practice Saturday after finishing with a school-record 13-2 record and a share of its first Missouri Valley Conference championship since 1999. “But now I need to refocus them and make sure they’re focused on what’s important now.
“And that’s the little things, the details that are going to make us a championship team – things maybe we didn’t do quite as good in certain situations a year ago that we are going to have to do better because we are younger in certain spots.”
The Redbirds return 40 lettermen, including 11 starters from last year, and Spack said his biggest concern is replacing three offensive linemen, who helped seniors-to-be Tre Roberson and Mashaun Coprich combine for over 7,000 yards in total offense.
Roberson threw for 3,221 yards and ran for 1,029 yards, while Coprich set school records with 2,274 yards rushing and 27 touchdowns.
“The line of scrimmage on offense has me a little concerned,” admitted Spack. “There are some question marks there. I feel very comfortable with the players coming up. I think they’re really good players, but experience makes up for a lot of stuff. They are going to have some growing pains.
“The good news is we have a very athletic quarterback and we have some good athletes at other spots, who can help us overcome that. But the front is where the game is won or lost.
“Defensively, we have to replace some very good players in our secondary. Our front seven – we have a couple of guys to replace – but I think we’re going to be a little deeper in our front seven than we have been in the past. And specialty team-wise we lost our battery – our long snappers, kicker, punter and holder.”
Spack said the fact the Redbirds season ran so long also it afforded the younger players the opportunity to spend more time in practice.
“You can see the effects of all the practicing and playing late and getting a lot of work with the younger players,” added Spack. “Hearing them talk and watching them during winter conditioning, we were light years ahead of where we’ve been in the past, even though we’ve lost some very good players.
“It’s going to be interesting to see where (the younger players) are going to be. It just seems they’re a little farther ahead then the young guys in the past because of the extra practices. We’re excited to see if that is true, but you won’t know until you get out there practicing football.”
The annual spring game is April 25.
Bryan Bloodworth can be reached at [email protected]
