University of Richmond Athletics
Football Gears Up For Full Pads Friday At First Market
Aug. 9, 2007
UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND, Va. - Practice No. 4 is in the books and the Spiders are continuing the march towards the 2007 season opener at Vanderbilt. The team was in light pads for the final time this preseason Thursday morning, with the first workout in full pads set for early Friday at First Market Stadium.
Temperatures again soared near the century mark Thursday, but the forecast calls for slightly cooler weather as the two-a-day practices begin Saturday.
RichmondSpiders.com talked with Head Coach Dave Clawson after Thursday's workout:
On how he feels camp has gone thus far...
"We've had four good practices. It's been tough in the heat but it's really helped us. We've really put guys in adverse situations. We've worked through it pretty well and we're excited to put the full pads on tomorrow."
On the special teams unit...
"That's really an area where we have to make some improvements. Our greatest concern right now will be in our two coverage units - punt coverage and kickoff coverage. We've devoted the first three practices to the punt team for 20-minutes each practice and today we worked on punt returns. The coverage units are a place we need to get better. We struggled a year ago. Part of that was how we were kicking the ball and the other part was the coverage units."
On the QB position...
"There's still a competition. Eric (Ward) has been running with the No. 1 offense, but Will (Healy) is having a good camp too. If we played a game today, Eric would start but Will is really playing well. Will has really elevated his play, from last year and even from last spring, to now. So Eric needs to keep playing well."
On the receivers...
"(Kevin) Grayson, (Jonathan) Mayfield, (Scot) Riddell and (Jordan) Mitchell are all having good camps so far. Before the season started one of the things we were excited about was the fact we had more depth at wideout than we've ever had. Along with Shields, we have a number of big targets to throw to."