Football | 8/14/2016 10:47:00 PM
ABILENE – The ACU Wildcats completed their first week of fall camp Sunday afternoon with a two-hour practice on a beautiful August afternoon at the
Wally Bullington Practice Facility, complete with a little bit of cloud cover and a welcoming breeze out of the northeast.
After the practice, ACU head coach
Ken Collums sat down with ACU associate director of athletics for media relations
Lance Fleming for a quick look back at the first week of camp and where his team sits as it prepares for the Sept. 3 season-opener at Air Force.
LF: Give me a review of the first week of practice and what you're seeing:
KC: The first six days we're putting in base stuff on both sides of the ball and not worry about situations. But now the last two days we're worried about situations and getting guys to apply their assignments and techniques to those situations. If it's third-and-five, everybody needs to know that it's third-and-five and not third-and-three. The more you put on guys in fall camp the better they'll be in October and November. Fall camp is tough on everybody, but right now we're testing them mentally. Football is unique in that it requires you to to be physically tough because it's very violent. But just as importantly, you've got to be emotionally and mentally tough at the same time, and these guys have done a pretty good job of it so far.
We're progressing offensively. We've got a lot of new receivers, so things don't look great all the time because sometimes they get their wires crossed. For all of those new guys coming in, it's like learning a new language. They have to learn the basics and learn what they need. We've been putting in the basics and taking baby steps and learning how to communicate. Same way defensively because we've got a lot of new guys on that side of the ball as well. Our guys are doing well. Our coaches are coaching their tails off and we're having fun. For the first time around here we've got some depth that you need to compete and win at this level. Really shows up on defense. Our defensive line is deep and we've got some pretty good players up front. But the most important thing is that we're deep. We've just got to keep progressing.
LF: You'll be cramming a lot of work in over the next three days because you'll be taking your team on its annual retreat later this week. What do you want to see in the next 4-5 workouts, and how do practices change now that you're one week into camp?
KC: We'll continue to add situations, but the biggest thing we need to see is their toughness come to the forefront. We're going to practice four times in the next 44 hours and that's a lot of stuff; a lot of physical abuse; and a lot of mental anguish. It's a lot to ask, but we do it, and the guys who can focus will get better. Hard to do everything perfect and we don't expect that. But we don't want them to continue to make the same mistakes. By the time we go to our retreat they'll be worn out, but we'll be a better team in two days than we were (Sunday).
LF: You've got a new starting quarterback who's going through reps with the starters; what has Dallas Sealey shown you in these first six days?
KC: He's doing well and still growing through some things. Our defense is getting after him and that makes him better. He's making throws and making good decisions. Last we held the ball too long and we've addressed that and he's getting the ball out quicker right now. We've changed some things up in order to help Dallas in that regard, but he's progressing.
LF: What about the receiving corps? You brought in a lot of new faces with several high school signees and now several transfers during the spring and summer. Where is that group right now?
KC: We've got new guys running around all over the place at receiver. The main new guy is D.J. Fuller. He came in in decent shape. He can run all day long and that's what you've got to have in this offense. If you want to catch a bunch of balls, you'd better be able to run. He's learning the details every practice and he's getting better. He's a great teammate and a fierce competitor. Very pleased we got Fuller. A lot of these young receivers will progress and come along.
LF: Along the offensive line, you've got five guys back who have played, but you don't have a lot of depth; what are your thoughts on that group?
KC: I mentioned earlier that our depth is positive, but this is the only position where we've got some depth issues just because of numbers. We lost some guys from last year, but the guys we've got are good players. We've got the starters in Dakota Laws, Chance Rieken, Austin Hisler, Brady Melde and Riley Mayfield, and we've also got Brandon Niccum who transferred, and he'll definitely contribute. The more he gets used to what we do and settles in he'll be fine. We don't have a ton of linemen, but we've got I feel good about. It's really good to have Riley Mayfield back from his injury. Not having him at all last year was not a good deal at all. But he's back and playing really well.
LF: You brought in a lot of new faces defensively, especially up front and in the secondary, including safety Royce Moore, whom you thought would be a really good playmaker in the secondary. Has he been what you thought he would be?
KC: It's hard to tell with anybody right now because all of the new guys are learning how we do things. Obviously our main two guys on defense are going to be (defensive tackle) LaMarcus Allen and (linebacker) Sam Denmark. Those guys are leading our defense and I'm very pleased with them. As far as the new guys, (defensive lineman) Ivan Thomas is doing really well. He can play either tackle or end and he's a strong, instinctive player who can disrupt a lot of things for our opponents. Royce Moore is having a really good camp. It's hard to assert yourself and become a starter when you're learning a new defense, but Ivan and Royce have done that. Royce can make plays and can cover and can tackle.
LF: One area that probably gets overlooked a lot is special teams, especially the return game. You didn't really have a return guy coming into camp; have those spots begun to work themselves out?
KC: We're still working that out. D.J. Fuller will be a returner; he's comfortable with that. Justin Miller is a guy with speed and explosiveness and we'll get the ball in his hands. Those two guys will help us in the return game, as well as Jamar Mack. We don't have it nailed down yet, so it's still an open competition, but those guys are getting better at what they're doing. We're just not ready to settle on anything yet.
