March 18, 2010

WCU Football Scoreboard Photo (see below for update)

Cullowhee, N.C. - Off-season preparations are starting to ramp-up for the Western Carolina football team and head coach Dennis Wagner, who is entering his third spring season atop the Catamount program. Activity for the football team has picked up since early March in advance of the annual spring drills which are slated to commence on Tuesday, April 6.

In addition to their regular regiment of sessions in the weight room, the team has been in "coaches' workouts" two days a week which are scheduled to continue through WCU's spring break. Divided into three groups - offensive and defensive linemen; skill players including wide receivers, defensive backs and running backs; and linebackers, fullbacks, tight ends and quarterbacks - the workouts include conditioning, change of direction and football specific conditioning drills.

"During the first two years (of coaches' workouts), we spent a lot of time in `how' to do things right; being disciplined, lining up on the line, finishing through drills. I think the players now understand what we expect, so we don't have to spend as much time on commands and responses to commands," said Wagner, who was granted a one-year contract extension back on March 12 by the WCU board of trustees. "This year, we are spending more time on the actual conditioning drill itself. I think our players in year three have taken a step forward. They know the systems that are in place from what Coach (Brad) Ohrt is teaching them to what our coaching staff is teaching."

Wagner added, "We've had a great winter. I think we have improved our strength as a team tremendously. Now, as we approach spring ball, we are still trying to improve our strength, but emphasis is more on the change of direction and football specific things that we can do. We are preparing them now for what will go on during the four weeks of spring football."

The NCAA mandated 15 days of practice will be spread over a four-week period, culminating with the annual Spring Game on Saturday, May 1 in Cullowhee. Game time and format have yet to be determined. The team will conduct practices on Tuesday and Thursday's in the mornings during the week, while holding mid-morning sessions through Noon on Saturday also with Sunday afternoon practices.

"We are going to try and take advantage of the weekends with having the players being here on campus and there is not as much to worry about with class schedules," said Wagner.

This year's spring practices are slated to start later then past practices in the recent years.

"We wanted to make sure some of the injuries that we had in the fall season had the complete time to rehabilitate and to be prepared for spring practice," explained Wagner.

He continued, "I would love to take credit for scheduling it later because of all of the bad weather and say that we knew there was going to be a lot of snow and cold weather. But what it really came down to was making sure guys were healthy so we could have a complete spring practice."

WCU will enter into its annual spring drills with 75 players, the most since Wagner took over the program three years ago.

"During spring practices, we want to work on X's and O's, techniques and fundamentals. It's not so much about getting better with conditioning, but more maintaining the conditioning you have," said Wagner. "We have made a commitment as a staff to devote as close as we can half a practice to individual technique and fundamentals. We haven't always been able to do that, but this spring, we are going to work as much as we can on individual periods to make us better. We will use the second half of practice for our team concepts and utilize the 15 days to cover as many aspects as we can. We won't spend as much time on some areas as we have in the past because our players have a grasp of the system, but we will concentrate on making sure we are fundamentally sound. It is about us; it is about us getting better."

Looking at the team as a whole, Wagner feels that the mid-semester transfers have adapted well to WCU and the Catamount football system. The spring season will help further the melding process in preparation for the 2010 season.

"The mid-semester transfers are guys we brought in because we obviously believe they can help us right away. They will create competition immediately and make the guys already here better football players," explained Wagner.

Wagner highlighted quarterback transfer Casey Turner in creating competition under center with returning starter Zack Jaynes. He feels that wide receiver Deja Alexander will compete for playing time at the wide receiver position and will be a factor offensively. He also mentioned Walt Woolwine in plugging vacancies along the defensive front and both Jaron McNeill and Reggie America in adding depth to the defensive secondary.

Another of the storylines entering spring practice is local product Randy Pressley, who was recruited to WCU as a quarterback making the transition to the defensive side of the ball. The Asheville, N.C., native will move into the hybrid "drop" linebacker position vacated by Chris Collins.

"Randy wants to play. He stands out as a great athlete and this will give him an opportunity to compete for time on the field," Wagner said.

Western Carolina is scheduled to open its 2010 season at Atlantic Coast Conference-member, North Carolina State, on Saturday, Sept. 4.

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Update on the Video Scoreboard at Whitmire Stadium
Construction continues on the new video scoreboard at the south end of E.J. Whitmire Stadium / Bob Waters field on-campus in Cullowhee. Just over a week after the concrete foundation was poured, the steel frame has been erected on site over the past two days. Plans are for the frame to be painted purple on Friday with the video board slated to arrive in Cullowhee on Monday as the installation process continues.

Officials at Western Carolina anticipate having the board up and operational by the football team's annual Spring Game on Saturday, May 1.

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