Faulkner begins fall practice
Monday, Aug. 6 - Faulkner head football coach Jim Nichols admittedly couldn’t sleep Sunday night. "I finally got up at 4 a.m.,’’ he said. "I was just laying there wide awake.’’
He had a good reason.
Five hours later he and his staff put the Eagles through their first fall practice at Goodwyn Junior High School, preparing for the program’s inaugural football game against Pikeville Sept. 1 in Pikeville, Ky. Of the 155 players dressed in shorts and t-shirts at the two-hour practice Monday, only the 50 that participated in spring drills last April had any idea what the high-intensity session would be like.
"I thought the first day went well, considering we weren’t in helmets or shoulder pads,’’ said Nichols, a former graduate assistant for Tommy Tuberville at Auburn. "We tried to introduce all these new kids to what we do here, and I thought they did really well picking up on things. We’re trying to give everyone some reps so our coaches can see what we have. Right now, it’s almost like an evaluation camp.’’
Nichols was quick to admit that, while he and his staff have been a part of many a football practice, Monday’s was special.
"There was a lot of excitement out there, for the coaches and the players,’’ he said. "Spring practice was good for us, but now we have an actual opponent we can talk to them about. We worked for a year getting everything ready - we now have a month to get ready to play.’’
Redshirt freshman Phillip Moore from Edgewood Academy finished the spring as the no. 1 quarterback, but recently had surgery on his right shoulder and will miss the season. He’ll be ready for next spring practice. Redshirt freshman Chilton County’s Frank Chinoski and Justin Wright, also a redshirt freshman from Tallahassee, Fla., are battling for the starting quarterback position.
"It’s nice that at such an important position we have some gooddepth,’’ said Nichols, who praised the work of both quarterbacks in the first practice. "We should be fine there, in spite of Phillip’s injury.’’
EAGLES’ NOTES ...
• Faulkner will practice Tuesday in shorts, and in shoulder pads and helmets Wednesday and Thursday. Full pads go on Friday morning, with two-a-days starting Saturday. The Eagles are using Goodwyn’s facility until their on-campus fieldhouse and practice facility are available later this fall. Faulkner will play its home games this season at Cramton Bowl, with plans for an on-campus stadium still in the works.
• The Eagles’ inaugural outing at Pikeville has had a game-time change. The game will start at 12:30 p.m. central time, moved up from the original start time of 6:30p.m.
• For season ticket information, please go to www.faulkner.edu or call (334) 386-7153.
For more information, please contact Doug Amos at (334) 386-7153 or (334) 313-1170.