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Princeton University Athletics
Players Mentioned
Football Gets Ideal Start To 2010 Spring Session
April 05, 2010 | Football
With perfect weather conditions and the new FieldTurf on the Finney-Campbell Practice Fields installed, the 2010 Princeton spring football season got off to an ideal start last weekend.
Spring practices began Friday afternoon at 4:30 p.m. and continued Saturday morning at 9:30. Images from both practices are included in the above video, with comments from head coach Bob Surace and rising seniors Steven Cody and Trey Peacock.
A few tidbits from the first two days:
• the sessions seemed well-organized and fast-paced … players definitely seemed to understand the need to impress their new coaches and moved from one drill to the next with purpose
• Surace doesn't stand still for very long … he moved from one positional group to the next throughout the practices
• with the new FieldTurf practice fields available, the team was able to spread out and really have significant field access for different positional drills … at least during Friday's session, the defense stayed mostly on Finney (the field closest to Princeton Stadium), while the offense worked on Campbell
• in offense vs. defense situations, any false start resulted in laps or up-downs ... with only one returning starter on the offensive line, the staff is determined to instill discipline in any potential starter … Surace also discussed the importance of his quarterbacks challenging the line with the cadence, similar to the way Jon Kitna once did with the Bengals
• as pictured above, rising junior and 2009 starting quarterback Tommy Wornham spent a lot of time around offensive coordinator James Perry … who could be better to learn from than the all-time passing leader in the Ivy League?
• both Surace and Peacock talked about the offense as being fast and physical … maintaining a fast tempo and being a well-conditioned team, which Surace has stressed with his offseason workout program, could lead to more productive second halves
• on the last note, one point to compare: last season, Princeton scored 44 second-half points; Brown, where Perry was an offensive coach, scored 137 second-half points
• the defensive coaches spoke consistently on communication … as a new system is installed, players will need to make sure they are all on the same page … a good role model would be defensive coordinator Jared Backus, whose voice can be heard from any point on Finney-Campbell (and probably on the baseball field as well); like the offensive coaches, Backus had the defense moving crisply from one drill to the next
• overall, the attitude on the field was positive and workmanlike … plenty was incorporated in a session that ran about 2 1/4 hours, and players seemed on their toes throughout