The University of Minnesota football team opened preparations for the 2008 season Thursday afternoon at the indoor practice facility at the Gibson-Nagurski football complex with the first of 15 spring workouts.
The Golden Gophers practices for 2 ½ hours in shells and will work in helmets and shorts again on Saturday afternoon before moving into full pads next week.
Head coach Tim Brewster addressed the media following Thursday afternoon’s first spring practice and indicated that he was pleased with the initial workout.
“I think (today’s first practice) was exactly as I expected it to be,” said Brewster, who leading the Gophers through the second spring practice regimen of his tenure at Minnesota. “There was tremendous attention to detail, tremendous energy and focus. There were a lot of good things going on with our football team in there.”
Brewster said that it’s clear that the Gophers were much more comfortable on the field compared to last spring, resulting in very productive first practice.
“Obviously we’re so far ahead of where we were last year at this time,” Brewster said. “The challenge is that you only have 15 opportunities to get better as a football team during the spring. We’ve got to make certain that on Saturday we have the same focus, the same attention to detail and the same energy we had today.”
Minnesota spent the majority of the practice working on individual fundamentals among position groups and in tandem with other units.
The last 20 minutes of the workout were devoted 11-on-11 team drills, with the Gophers offense even running a no-huddle concept at times.
The Minnesota defense wasn’t phased, however, and more than held its own during the team session as the coaching staff drilled ones-versus-ones and twos-versus-twos.
Sophomore safety Scott Jilek came up with the lone turnover of the team session, intercepting a Tony Mortensen pass over the middle.
Defensive end Willie VanDeSteeg was also impressive throughout the team segment, registering a tackle for loss and a sack of quarterback Adam Weber as the practice wound down.
“I was really excited by the way our defense flew around today,” Brewster said. “We have a ton of work to do, but it was a good first day.”
In addition to the defense, Brewster also noted the play of Weber, who smashed virtually every Minnesota passing and total offense record during a very productive freshman campaign.
“Adam (Weber) really had a good first day,” said Brewster. “You can see that he’s poised and confident. The biggest challenge for him is to become a leader and I was pleased with how he took charge in the huddle today.”
Minnesota returns to the practice field on Saturday at noon for its second of 15 spring workouts.
“We’ve got to make great strides this spring,” Brewster said. “To do that we’ve got to utilize each one of these practices to the fullest.”
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