Aug. 21, 2007
The Baylor football team continued preparations for its Sept. 1 season-opener at No. 22 TCU with a two-hour full-pad workout Tuesday afternoon the Floyd Casey Stadium grass fields.
"It went a lot better today," said Baylor head coach Guy Morriss. "The energy was up and we had people flying around. I thought offensively we handled the blitz much better, so that's coming along.
"This is a real, real important week for us," he added. "It's tough for the kids because they are looking at the big, long picture. They were a little sluggish yesterday and we talked to them about not worrying about anything past today--be in the moment. They did that today and now we have to get them to do that again tomorrow, Thursday, Friday and next week. We've got lots of work to do yet and we need to take advantage of every opportunity this week that we can get. We emphasized that today and that's where the energy came from today.
Sophomore Blake Szymanski and redshirt freshman Tyler Beatty both took about an equal number of snaps in Tuesday's team period, although Szymanski may have gotten a few more reps according to Morriss.
"Some good and some not so good," Morriss said when asked to rate Szymanski and Beatty's performance in Tuesday's workout. "They are probably trying to do too much. But, we can coach that out of them.
"Don't make a dumb mistake because you want impress and try and make a play," he added. "In that situation, just throw it out of bounds, don't throw the interception or a bad ball that gets tipped. That's what they have to understand. Throw it away. We'll punt it, play defense and then come back and take another shot at it. That's better than six points going the other way and that was the message at the end of practice today."
Baylor will return to practice Wednesday at 4:15 p.m. on the grass practice fields. All practices are closed to the public.
Notes: Sophomore offensive tackle Thad Boatner (right knee strain) and freshman linebacker Chris Francis (left knee strain) missed Tuesday's practice, while junior wide receiver Mikail Baker returned to work after missing the last two workouts with an illness ... Redshirt freshman offensive tackle Dylan Hagens has been placed on a medical scholarship due to a back injury ... Baylor has nine practices remaining prior to its Sept. 1 season-opener at No. 22 TCU ... The Bears are expected to name team captains over the weekend.
