Murray State University Athletics
Turnovers the topic of the day at Racer football practice
8/14/2005 12:00:00 AM | Football
Last season, the Murray State Racers committed 21 turnovers, almost 1.9 per game. On Sunday, Day 4 of the fall practice season, Murray State head coach Joe Pannunzio and his staff focused on turnover drills.
"Today, we stressed turnovers," Pannunzio said. "We want the defense to create turnovers and the offense to protect the ball to not cause turnovers. Turnovers are the biggest factor in wins and losses, and we will be preaching that to the players all day long."
On offense, the players worked on ways to protect the ball to not cause a strip, forcing a fumble and a likely turnover. Naturally, on the other side of the ball, on defense, the players were working to try to find ways to strip the ball from an opponent, causing as many fumbles as they could for a hopeful turnover.
CAMP NOTES: Pannunzio also worked on no-huddle offense drills for his defense. Said Pannunzio, "We have about five or six teams we play this season who work with a no-huddle offense. We need to get used to the speed of that."
INJURY REPORT: Keith McClain and Tony Ryan were back from injuries, but Rod Harper was still nursing a sore hamstring. Junior wide receiver Akeem Lofton also had a sore leg, and junior defensive tackle Gerald Goldberg was treating a sore left shoulder with a heavy ice pack throughout the practice.
FOUR TO SCORE: A new offensive philosophy was brought into place today, as Pannunzio worked on a drill to throw the ball downfield more often. Four wide receivers would run vertical routes, with hopes of using their speed to emerge wide-open deep downfield. Pannunzio said he would like for this "4-vertical" play to be effective, because then that would stretch out the defense more for running backs like Nick Turner and Chad Cook.
