Tyler Bruggman
Photo by: Brian Morse
CATS IN CAMP DAY 6: Full-Contact Flip-Flop
8/11/2016 5:48:00 PM | Football
MSU turns normal order on its ear, with full-contact session in the afternoon
Montana State's first two-a-day practice session came Thursday, with a wrinkle. The Cats practiced in helmets early, then thudded through a full-contact session late.
The order of the two practices goes against conventional wisdom in college football, and stems from a summertime conversation with a coaching peer. "I haven't done that (before)," Choate said. "I was sitting down and chatting with (Justin Wilcox) who coaches at Wisconsin. It's always been the heavy (practice) in the morning, then back off in the afternoon."
The concept of a morning run-through before the main event in the afternoon struck a chord with Choate. "(Wilcox) said, 'What we do is practice to practice in the morning. Then we come back in the afternoon, and you have the chance to do it twice, so to speak.' It made a lot of sense to me. You get more reps, you go through the script in seven-on-seven then hit it again (in the afternoon full-contact practice). You're doubling up on it instead of going heavy in the morning and polishing in the afternoon. You want to get your best practices in pads, so we have a dress rehearsal (in the morning)."
Bobcat offensive coordinator Courtney Messingham likes the change, and says Bozeman's mild climate plays a role. "A lot of places I've been, you go to two, three, four in the afternoon and it's so hot you might get 20 plays that are decent plays then you're just grinding it out. Here, we'll get great work in terms of conditioning so they're playing when they're tired but not so hot that they're fried for the next day."
Leading to Saturday's limited scrimmage, Messingham is pleased with how much of the offense has been installed, but says narrowing the script is a challenge. "I think we're pretty good," he said. "I think the bigger problem comes down to when we scrimmage we only have X number of plays so we have to be smart about which ones I want to see in a 'liver' setting. We've had some live situations, but they're managed settings."
The Bobcats practice at 10:45 am Friday, beginning on the grass practice field.
The order of the two practices goes against conventional wisdom in college football, and stems from a summertime conversation with a coaching peer. "I haven't done that (before)," Choate said. "I was sitting down and chatting with (Justin Wilcox) who coaches at Wisconsin. It's always been the heavy (practice) in the morning, then back off in the afternoon."
The concept of a morning run-through before the main event in the afternoon struck a chord with Choate. "(Wilcox) said, 'What we do is practice to practice in the morning. Then we come back in the afternoon, and you have the chance to do it twice, so to speak.' It made a lot of sense to me. You get more reps, you go through the script in seven-on-seven then hit it again (in the afternoon full-contact practice). You're doubling up on it instead of going heavy in the morning and polishing in the afternoon. You want to get your best practices in pads, so we have a dress rehearsal (in the morning)."
Bobcat offensive coordinator Courtney Messingham likes the change, and says Bozeman's mild climate plays a role. "A lot of places I've been, you go to two, three, four in the afternoon and it's so hot you might get 20 plays that are decent plays then you're just grinding it out. Here, we'll get great work in terms of conditioning so they're playing when they're tired but not so hot that they're fried for the next day."
Leading to Saturday's limited scrimmage, Messingham is pleased with how much of the offense has been installed, but says narrowing the script is a challenge. "I think we're pretty good," he said. "I think the bigger problem comes down to when we scrimmage we only have X number of plays so we have to be smart about which ones I want to see in a 'liver' setting. We've had some live situations, but they're managed settings."
The Bobcats practice at 10:45 am Friday, beginning on the grass practice field.
Thursday, July 31
Monday, May 19
Wednesday, May 03
Wednesday, May 03
