My (in)accurate MLB picks
April 7, 2015
Player of the Week: Carson Helmer
April 7, 2015
Nicholls State University first-year head football coach Tim Rebowe isn’t naïve – he knows the Colonels have a lot of work to do to become competitive with the top teams in the Southland Conference.
But through one set of spring practices, the new coach certainly thinks that things are steadily moving in the right direction.
Rebowe said this week that he’s pleased with how the Colonels fared in the spring, touting that he enjoyed the effort and energy of his team along the way.
The Colonels capped their practices with their annual spring game two weekends ago – the icing on the cake on what Rebowe said was a job well done by his team.
“I thought it all ended up going really well,” Rebowe said. “I thought we got a lot accomplished and I thought we did what we set out to do. We installed our base offense and our base defense and we tried to work a lot of fundamentals. It was a lot of teaching, certainly, but our guys responded very well to it.”
On the offensive side of the ball, Rebowe said he was pleased with the work of an old gun who is back in his original saddle.
Nicholls senior Landry Klann moved back to offense this spring after working the 2014 campaign at linebacker. Klann was signed by former coach Charlie Stubbs as a quarterback and played under center from 2010-12, starting 14 games in his career.
Klann redshirted in 2013 after undergoing shoulder surgery for a severe injury – an ailment that moved the San Antonio native to linebacker last season.
After recording 10 tackles in four games during an injury-plagued season, Rebowe convinced the now-sixth-year senior to move back to offense to compete with Tuskani Figaro for the starting quarterback job.
“I thought Landry did really well in the transition,” Rebowe said. “It’s almost like he picked up where he had left off. I know they moved him to defense last year, but it was just like riding a bike. Once he got over there, he settled in and Landry is just a very smart player. He knows what he can do and he knows what he can’t do. … He’s a great leader and he’s a fierce competitor.”
The new coach also offered praise for Figaro, touting that the Colonels will enter the summer without a clear-cut starting quarterback in mind for 2015.
Rebowe said Figaro struggled early in the spring with his accuracy, but wowed coaches with his ability to make plays on the ground. As spring wore on, Rebowe said that Figaro settled in as a passer and looked great.
“He started slow, but he ended up finishing strong and having a great spring,” Rebowe said. “By the end of the spring, he was throwing the ball so much better. The thing about Tuskani is that we all know what he can do back there with his feet. He’s such an explosive player. Having a little competition back there helped him, and I think those guys gave us a good 1-2 punch at quarterback this spring.”
The guys blocking for the quarterbacks were a pleasant surprise to Rebowe, as well.
In virtually every news conference since his hiring last November, Nicholls’ new coach touted that boosting the team’s depth along both the offensive and defensive lines were a huge key to getting the program’s turnaround started.
Rebowe signed a heavy slate of linemen in his first recruiting class – a group of young men that aren’t yet on campus, but will join the team for the first time when the fall semester starts in Thibodaux.
But the players who were able to compete in the spring did Yeomen’s work, according to the coach, who said that he is resting a little more easily at night after watching the work that his big guys did.
“I thought the line was a pleasant surprise for us,” Rebowe said. “I thought we did a lot of good things. We moved some guys over from the defensive line to the offensive line, and I thought they progressed well. I was really pleased with how our big guys did. I thought that was one of the bright spots of our spring.”
Rebowe said that even with the strides Nicholls’ offense made, it was the team’s defense that set the tempo early in the spring.
“The defense is almost always ahead of the offense, and for us, that’s exactly what we saw,” Rebowe said. “As we got to the end of spring, it was about even.”
But throughout the way, the coach touts that he saw signs that Nicholls’ defenders would be able to score much-needed improvement in the fall after two-straight seasons of routinely allowing crooked numbers on the scoreboard.
“Our defense can run,” Rebowe said. “We play with a lot of passion and a lot of energy on that side of the ball. We really have a lot of speed and we can run to the ball. I think we’re strong in the secondary. I think we have competition and depth there. Our linebackers came along and developed how we wanted, and I think the defensive line played well – just with those guys, we have to get a little bit lucky injury-wise, I guess you can say, because we don’t have as much depth there.”
But even with all of the praise for his players, Rebowe is the first one to admit that Nicholls needs work.
But so far, Rebowe thinks the ship is sailing toward calmer waters.
For Colonels fans starved to see a turnaround within the university’s football program, any good news is progress.
“We have work to do – we have a long way to go,” Rebowe said. “We have to see how we respond when there’s another team on the field with us. But I liked our energy and I liked how hard we worked. I think there’s a lot of excitement and our guys are ready to have a good summer to keep getting ready for the season.”
