KFDM COOP Posted April 20, 2006 Report Posted April 20, 2006 http://www.panews.com/articles/2006/04/19/sports/03news.txt State-mandated tests have put just about all spring sports activities on hold this week and that includes Memorial's spring football practices. But that doesn't mean the Titans are forgetting about the grid game. "Coaches are coaching and kids are learning," is how new coach Ron Thompson answered when asked what the football program was up to this week. Except for a practice in pads Monday, he meant they were learning new offenses and defenses by watching. And what they were watching was themselves on videotape. "You don't know what kids are thinking," the coach said. "You tell them out on the field to do this thing or that. But the players really don't know until they see it on film." And it's not just teenagers who learn better with videotape, Thompson said. He recalled that when he coached at the University of Texas two decades ago he had occasion to visit the off-season practices of the Washington Redskins and visit with Super Bowl MVP John Riggins, a running back. "I asked him about a play they had run in the Super Bowl and I started to draw it up for him," Thompson recalled. "He said, 'I don't understand that. Show me the play on film. That's how I learn.' "And from that," Thompson said, "I learned to film as much as you can, and watch as much film as you can. That's how you learn." So the Titans have been practicing -- four times last week and once this week -- under the watchful eye of a video camera. And during their days away from the practice field this week, they've been watching themselves on video with their position coaches pointing out the good, the bad and the ugly. "The film work is helping," Thompson says. "Every time they see it, they're getting better. We're trying to move at a slow and moderate pace and digest what we've learned." The Titans return to the practice field next week for drills on Monday through Thursday, taking the weekend off for the regional track meet. Exactly how much better they are for their time watching video will be known next week. But as for who has impressed the head coach so far, the list includes quarterbacks Davon Lewis, Alonzo Revuelta, Harry Brown and Jerrell Alexander and offensive linemen Ronald DeJohn and Jonathan Vernon. Defensive linemen Charles Jacobs, Marcus Abbott and Darius Leveige and linebacker Jordan Charles and defensive backs Todd Gardner and Anthony Cockrell. The coach didn't single out any receivers. "Reeivers as a whole are starting to come around," the coach said. "They're starting to emerge as catchers."
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