Despite setbacks, practice under way

Despite missing three coaches and fighting the wrath of Mother Nature, the Nicholls State football team returned to the practice field last week for the start of spring drills.

However, things were a tad different than previous spring practices.

With the shortage of coaches, head coach Jay Thomas and the remaining Nicholls coaches – offensive coordinator H.T. Kinney, linebackers coach Jeremy Atwell, wide receivers coach Kent Keith, special teams coach David Cunningham, and running backs coach Johnny Tart – are wearing multiple hats until the vacancies are filled sometime in July when the freeze is lifted.

It’s been a daunting task at times, but Thomas said everyone has handled it well.

“Our coaches all had to pull together,” he said. “We’re all working for each other. We’ve always done that here. We’re just pitching in, pulling the extra duty for class check, breakfast check and curfew at night. Everyone is pulling the extra duty and wearing a few extra hats right now.”

The drills started last week with position practices Monday, Wednesday and Friday. The coach said even in the gloomy weather Friday, the team was still able to get in a spirited practice.

Friday’s practice consisted of position drills as well as 7-on-7 drills.

That is expected to be the trend from this point on.

“We had a good week of practice,” Thomas said. “I believe we have a good starting point. The coaches are looking forward to it and I know the team is also looking forward to it.”

On Saturday, the Colonels took to the field in full pads for the first time since their season concluded.

Last Tuesday and Thursday were devoted to position meetings and work in the weight room.

Thomas said when coming up with a plan on how to make spring practice easier to handle, he and the rest of the coaches drew up a plan similar to the one used by the National Football League.

“We took a little bit of what the NFL does with the offseason training activities and we took college spring practice and blended the two together,” he explained. “Every coach takes a different position and brings them out here and works with them.”

Thomas is overseeing the defensive backs along with Colonel senior Lardarius Webb, who is offering his insight until he leaves next week for more workouts with NFL teams.

“One day, he wants to coach. Now he’s seeing it from a coaching standpoint, every little thing he does,” Thomas said. “Things that he does real easy, he can help the other guys with. We’re excited about him and his prospects here in the next couple months. He has about eight teams that are going to fly him out. Hopefully, I can hang on to him here for another week and a half or so.”

Kinney works with the quarterbacks, Keith takes the receivers, Tart works with the running backs, Cunningham with special teams and Atwell, the only defensive coach left at the moment, works with the linebackers.

The positions without coaches, defensive and offensive line, are split between Thomas and Kinney.

While pulling multiple duties can get hectic, Thomas credits the players for understanding the situation.

“I give the players a lot of credit. They’ve come out and have been attentive; they understand the situation and have really been giving us everything they’ve got. That makes it easier.”

Spring drills resumed Monday with another practice in shorts. The team then had weight training and meetings yesterday. They return to the field today at 2 p.m. for yet another practice in shorts, and helmets.

Fernandez Garner and Kyle Hughes run defensive drills as head coach Jay Thomas looks on. The Colonels altered spring drills this year due not being able to hire new coaches to replace the three who left for bigger jobs. * Photo by KYLE CARRIER