By Con Marshall
The first week of practice was a good one for the Chadron State College football team, Head Coach Jay Long said Saturday after the Eagles had what he called a “situational scrimmage” that lasted about an hour and 15 minutes.
With four quarterbacks seeing action, each offensive unit took turns running six plays at a time. Long said the defense often had the upper hand when the top unit on both offense and defense collided, but when the second and third units matched up, he said the offenses held their own.
“That was our sixth practice and I think we’re ahead of schedule,” Long said. “We’ve got good competition for playing time at most of the positions. That means we’ll have good depth.”
There will be 17 more practices beginning Monday before the Eagles open their season by hosting Nebraska-Kearney at 6 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 29.
Long predicted that the Eagles’ defensive line, which includes Hunter O’Conner and Tanner True, both First-Team All-Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference choices last fall, will make it difficult for the opponents to run the ball this fall.
The coach was particularly pleased that there were no injuries during Saturday’s scrimmage.