MACOMB, Ill. - The Western Illinois Fighting Leathernecks took part in their first live hitting practice on Saturday morning (Aug. 11) at Hanson Field. The scripted scrimmage, on a bright, sunny morning, lasted nearly two hours.
Head coach Mark Hendrickson also brought in Missouri Valley Football Conference officials as the Leathernecks had their first extended action of live hits. The scripted plays did not allow the offense to maintain drives, concentrating on getting more drives in with the ones, twos and threes.
"Overall I was pleased with this morning's scrimmage. My first thought is there was a lot of football played and by that I mean, since we have installed a lot this morning with those live reps. We get into a game we won't be practicing as many plays on offense and schemes on defense," said Hendrickson. "We instilled a lot this morning so there's still a lot of thinking going on, with that thinking that had to take place overall I was pleased with what I saw.
"Every player who could take a rep did. We worked our ones, twos and threes almost an equal number of reps. It was good to get the young players up to speed on both sides of the ball."
The offense, under first-year coordinator KiJuan Ware, picked up where they left off at the spring game by not committing a turnover during the 11-on-11. Five running backs, including two true-freshmen, got carries. The four quarterbacks completed passes to 13 different receivers in the scrimmage.
The secondary came up with some of those hits, notably two pass break-ups to knock the ball loose and negate what would have been a big gain for first-year coordinator Brian Ward.
Western will take Sunday off of practice to participate in the annual Fan Day event that afternoon at Hanson Field, starting at 4:30. The team returns to practice with a two-a-day on Monday.
FAN DAY SET FOR
AUGUST 12: Western Illinois Athletics will hold its annual 'Leatherneck Fan
Day' on Sunday, August 12th at 5 p.m. The event takes place at Hanson Field and
is free to the public. The Leatherneck football team will sponsor a clinic for
children ages 12 and under on Hanson Field, starting at 5. Coaches and
student-athletes from men's and women's soccer, volleyball, men's and women's
cross country, along with football, will be on hand to sign autographs for all
fans during the event. There will be free prizes, food and Coca-Cola products
for those in attendance. Fans can also purchase tickets for the upcoming 2012
football season during the event. For more information on the event contact the
Athletics Marketing department at (309) 298-1190.
TICKETS ON SALE:
Both season and
single-game tickets are currently on sale for the 2012 Football season. Fans
can call (309) 298-1190 or go online at www.GoLeathernecks.com to purchase
tickets.
FALL CAMP DAY/TIME
Sunday, August 12: No practice KIDS CLINIC from 5-6 pm
Monday, August 13: 8:30-11 am and 5:45-7:35 pm
Tuesday, August 14: 8:30-11 am
Wednesday, August 15: 8:30-11 am and 5:45-7:35 pm
Thursday, August 16: 8:30-11 am
Friday, August 17: 8:30-11 am and 5:45-7:35 pm
Saturday, August 18: 9-11 am (end of fall camp)
Monday, August 20: First day of classes
#WIUAthletics
