Bobcats Open Kramer Era
4/5/2000 12:00:00 AM | Football
head football coach opened on Monday with clear skies and high hopes.
Kramer welcomed 65 players to camp, and other than the weather saw no major surprises. "Itwas an extraordinary day in terms of weather and it was great that we were finally able toplay," Kramer said. "I saw what I thought I would see - a defensive front that enjoys the gameand a bunch of inexperienced guys that don’t know how to play yet. That will come in time.Overall, it was a good start."
Three full-time starters and a fourth player that saw considerable action last year return toanchor MSU’s defensive line, which Kramer has lauded throughout the off-season as aleadership area on the team. Kramer singled out a pair of linebackers - Kyle Ecker and MikeMcCafferty - and cornerback-turned-receiver Corey Smith as having solid first practices. He
also praised the experience of fourth-year starter Damon McNeal, and the consistency of new
quarterback Farhaad Azimi.
But, Kramer said the learning process continues on a daily basis. "It’s like being on a blind
date," Kramer said, "it really is. We don’t know what our range is, by far. I don’t know how
they’ll respond when they get their rear ends chewed, and I don’t know how hard they’ll fight
back when they get their rear ends chewed. There’s a lot of understanding that has to occur.
We took a good step today, and thank God we have 14 more practices."
Kramer said the Bobcats have moved a considerable distance along the learning curve through
the off-season in terms of his system. "I’m pretty happy. We ran two formations and one
running play today. I don’t believe we fumbled a snap, which is pretty good on the first day.
We didn’t get horribly misaligned on defense. The one thing that has to occur is that the kids
have to develop a level of trust with the coaches, that the coaches know what they’re talking
about, and then they’ll kind of know how we’re going to handle ourselves during practice.
What will happen is our improvement will be a little flat to begin with and then it will soar for a
while, then we’ll reach a plateua where we’ll level off because our ability will stop us. But right
now we’re still feeling each other out."
MSU will practice again on Wednesday and Thursday on the MSU practice field.
Kramer welcomed 65 players to camp, and other than the weather saw no major surprises. "Itwas an extraordinary day in terms of weather and it was great that we were finally able toplay," Kramer said. "I saw what I thought I would see - a defensive front that enjoys the gameand a bunch of inexperienced guys that don’t know how to play yet. That will come in time.Overall, it was a good start."
Three full-time starters and a fourth player that saw considerable action last year return toanchor MSU’s defensive line, which Kramer has lauded throughout the off-season as aleadership area on the team. Kramer singled out a pair of linebackers - Kyle Ecker and MikeMcCafferty - and cornerback-turned-receiver Corey Smith as having solid first practices. He
also praised the experience of fourth-year starter Damon McNeal, and the consistency of new
quarterback Farhaad Azimi.
But, Kramer said the learning process continues on a daily basis. "It’s like being on a blind
date," Kramer said, "it really is. We don’t know what our range is, by far. I don’t know how
they’ll respond when they get their rear ends chewed, and I don’t know how hard they’ll fight
back when they get their rear ends chewed. There’s a lot of understanding that has to occur.
We took a good step today, and thank God we have 14 more practices."
Kramer said the Bobcats have moved a considerable distance along the learning curve through
the off-season in terms of his system. "I’m pretty happy. We ran two formations and one
running play today. I don’t believe we fumbled a snap, which is pretty good on the first day.
We didn’t get horribly misaligned on defense. The one thing that has to occur is that the kids
have to develop a level of trust with the coaches, that the coaches know what they’re talking
about, and then they’ll kind of know how we’re going to handle ourselves during practice.
What will happen is our improvement will be a little flat to begin with and then it will soar for a
while, then we’ll reach a plateua where we’ll level off because our ability will stop us. But right
now we’re still feeling each other out."
MSU will practice again on Wednesday and Thursday on the MSU practice field.
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