March 6, 2006
Coach Guy Morriss' fourth Baylor football team opened spring practice Monday evening with a two-hour workout in helmets and shorts on the Floyd Casey Stadium turf.
"I thought for the first (spring) practice it went well," said Morriss. "I think the offensive guys are understanding what tempo is. It was a little bit slow, but they aren't used to it right now, not in condition enough to work at the tempo that coach (Lee Hays) wants to see them work at. But, they'll get better as we go through it and they get their legs under them and get back into football shape."
Monday's practice marked the debut of first-year Baylor coaches Lee Hays (offensive coordinator), Wes Phillips (quarterbacks) and Gary Joe Kinne (linebackers) as well as junior college transfers Paul Tolbert, Connor Redfearn and Brandon Stiggers, as well as Jameon Hardeman and Roman James. In addition, nine walk-ons were added to the 2006 spring roster in February.
"It is good to be active coaching every play and that sort of thing," said Morriss, who has taken over as the program's offensive line coach this season. "I've kind of missed that (as a head coach) and I'm looking forward to helping get this offensive line better."
The Bears will workout in helmets and shorts on March 8, then put on the pads for the first time on March 9 before an 11-day break for the university's spring vacation. Both remaining workouts this week are scheduled to start at 3 p.m. on the grass practice fields. Baylor will conclude spring practice with the annual Green & Gold Game, April 8, at 1 p.m. in Floyd Casey Stadium.
Notes: Baylor returns 47 lettermen, including 12 starters, from last year's team which finished 5-6 overall and 2-6 in the Big 12 Conference, recording the program's highest overall win total since 1995 and its best-ever Big 12 victory total ... Fifth-year senior defensive tackle Corey Ford, who missed nine games a year ago after suffering a knee injury during the Samford game, has been cleared for spring drills ... Sophomore linebacker Marcus Mead had surgery on his right wrist in January and may miss all of spring practice ... Redshirt freshman Antonio Jones will be sidelined until after spring vacation while recovering from leg surgery ... Ryan Leaf, the No. 2 pick in the 1998 NFL Draft and currently an assistant coach at West Texas A&M, attended Monday evening's practice as did several other Buffalo assistant coaches ... All Baylor practices are open to the media and public.
