Butch Jones is beginning to see the light bulbs come on.
After more than two weeks of spring practice with the University of Cincinnati football team, the first-year head coach is starting to see consistent growth and development in the process of installing his spread-offense playbook.
“I think we’ve been making progress each and every day,” Jones said. “Some days, maybe more progress than others, but sometimes it’s very, very small steps in very small increments and then other days are bigger strides.”
Jones understands progress can be a slow process and that fully learning his system can take time.
“I think a lot of that is in combination to your installation and still learning a system, learning the expectations, learning how to practice, all those things,” Jones said.
Jones’ pedal-to-the-metal offense makes Brian Kelly’s spread offense of years past look like a snail on the sidewalk.
And according to Jones, if you’re going to play fast, practicing fast is a no-brainer.
“I think it’s a mentality and when you’re installing something, it’s always easier to slow down than speed up, so you want to learn how to practice fast,” Jones said. “Plus, I don’t like standing around. I like to do everything fast.”
Jones and the Bearcats hope being faster than their opponents will help lead to wins during the 2010 season, but there is still work to be done.
“We always say that we want to make conditioning a factor and play in an up-tempo offensive style,” Jones said. “We’ve still got to get faster. It’s still not anywhere where we need to be. There are little nuances of teaching the wide outs how you look to the sideline with the signals and getting lined up and they’re actually having to do three or four things at once.”
Slowly but surely, the Bearcats are beginning to pick up on new terminologies, hand signals and Jones’ expectations.
“Light bulbs are starting to come on for some people,” said quarterback Zach Collaros. “I was sitting at home last night and I was anxious to get out here because I know I’m learning the formations well, theconcepts well. You’re anxious to get out here and show what you can do. I definitely agree that light bulbs are starting to go off.”
Aside from the team’s mental grasp on the new playbook, the tempo of spring practices has been an area where the Bearcats have noticed significant improvement.
“If you look at the first practices — even from just a tempo standpoint — it’s like night and day from where we’re at right now,” Collaros said. “And we have five more [practices] to
get better.”
The team’s spring workouts will conclude at 7 p.m., Saturday, April 24, with Bearcat Bowl IV at Nippert Stadium. Jones announced Saturday, April 10, at halftime of the Cincinnati Commandos’ home game against the Wisconsin Wolfpack that he will spend part of the team’s intra-squad scrimmage among the Bearcats’ faithful in Nippert Stadium stands and allow fans the opportunity to call plays.
http://www.newsrecord.org/sports/making-progress-1.2223987
After more than two weeks of spring practice with the University of Cincinnati football team, the first-year head coach is starting to see consistent growth and development in the process of installing his spread-offense playbook.
“I think we’ve been making progress each and every day,” Jones said. “Some days, maybe more progress than others, but sometimes it’s very, very small steps in very small increments and then other days are bigger strides.”
Jones understands progress can be a slow process and that fully learning his system can take time.
“I think a lot of that is in combination to your installation and still learning a system, learning the expectations, learning how to practice, all those things,” Jones said.
Jones’ pedal-to-the-metal offense makes Brian Kelly’s spread offense of years past look like a snail on the sidewalk.
And according to Jones, if you’re going to play fast, practicing fast is a no-brainer.
“I think it’s a mentality and when you’re installing something, it’s always easier to slow down than speed up, so you want to learn how to practice fast,” Jones said. “Plus, I don’t like standing around. I like to do everything fast.”
Jones and the Bearcats hope being faster than their opponents will help lead to wins during the 2010 season, but there is still work to be done.
“We always say that we want to make conditioning a factor and play in an up-tempo offensive style,” Jones said. “We’ve still got to get faster. It’s still not anywhere where we need to be. There are little nuances of teaching the wide outs how you look to the sideline with the signals and getting lined up and they’re actually having to do three or four things at once.”
Slowly but surely, the Bearcats are beginning to pick up on new terminologies, hand signals and Jones’ expectations.
“Light bulbs are starting to come on for some people,” said quarterback Zach Collaros. “I was sitting at home last night and I was anxious to get out here because I know I’m learning the formations well, theconcepts well. You’re anxious to get out here and show what you can do. I definitely agree that light bulbs are starting to go off.”
Aside from the team’s mental grasp on the new playbook, the tempo of spring practices has been an area where the Bearcats have noticed significant improvement.
“If you look at the first practices — even from just a tempo standpoint — it’s like night and day from where we’re at right now,” Collaros said. “And we have five more [practices] to
get better.”
The team’s spring workouts will conclude at 7 p.m., Saturday, April 24, with Bearcat Bowl IV at Nippert Stadium. Jones announced Saturday, April 10, at halftime of the Cincinnati Commandos’ home game against the Wisconsin Wolfpack that he will spend part of the team’s intra-squad scrimmage among the Bearcats’ faithful in Nippert Stadium stands and allow fans the opportunity to call plays.
http://www.newsrecord.org/sports/making-progress-1.2223987
