Head coach looking forward to spring football

Peter Holland // Staff Writer

While everyone is getting ready for Spring Break, there won’t be any days off for head coach Butch Davis and his football program.

The Panthers returned on the field to begin spring practice on Tuesday. Davis has been out of coaching for six years and is looking forward in the progression his team has made this offseason. The team has been in the weight room facility all semester to gain strength through conditioning.

“The real emphasis is to get as strong as they possibly could,” said Davis. “Also, to get as fast and as quick as they could. “I think we got a great combination in our strength and conditioning program. I’m kind of anxious to see some results of the first steps in the next couple days of practice.”

Despite key returning starters from both offense and defense such as quarterback Alex McGough and linebacker Anthony Wint, each position will have a clean slate under the first-year head coach.  Coach Davis made it clear that this is a wide-open competition and anyone can’t take anyone’s spot in the early process of this season.

“Like I told them, I said we’re going to count on them to provide real leadership and experience,” said Davis. “But having said all that, all the jobs are wide open. We’re not going to give them the starting job based on what they did in the past. Players are going to go out there and get the opportunity to become a starter, a great role player, or roles that we can provide for them on Saturdays.”

The spring game is going to be a combination of 30-40 minutes of drills in what they do in practice, according to Davis. We will finish that night with about 30-70 scrimmage plays in a full game-type situation.

“For the fan, I would like to see a lot of excitement and enthusiasms, explosiveness offensively and defensively to inspire the fans to say, you know what, I need to be a part of that, I want to be there and be part of the program’s success and help give the program the advantage by filling those stadiums up,” he said.

Because FIU Stadium is under renovations, the Panthers are practicing on the soccer stadium. Their spring game is scheduled to be on Apr. 7 at 7 p.m.