Temple University Athletics
Spring Practice #14 Recap
4.16.09 | Football
April 16, 2009
PHILADELPHIA-- Following today's last spring practice session, Ed Foley gave his assessment about his unit's progress. He coaches the tight ends, assists with the offensive line, and serves as the recruiting coordinator.
The Owls will play their annual Cherry & White Spring Game at 2 p.m. on Saturday, April 18 at the Edberg-Olson Complex (11th & Diamond Streets). The day's events are FREE and open to the public.
Ed Foley Quotes
What were you impressions of spring practice?
I thought the tight ends had a real good spring. I thought that we made vast improvements throughout the course of the spring drills. We asked our guys to get bigger and stronger in the off-season leading into the spring. Those guys put on weight, so they were playing at higher weights than they have before. I thought they were more physical and yet were still able to do some things catching the football. Overall, I was pleased with the progress.
What did you want the tight ends to accomplish this spring?
Our No. 1 goal for the tight end position was to be more physical blocking. We wanted to do a better job than we did throughout the course of the season in being physical, particularly at the point of attack. So when the ball's coming right at us, we want to get more push off the ball. We wanted to do a better job with one-on-one blocks against defensive ends and actually moving them off the ball. That was our No. 1 goal that tied into how we approached the off-season. I thought they did a good job, and we made great strides.
Who do you think has shown the most improvement?
Well, Steve (Maneri) showed the most improvement even though he played the most during the fall. He needed to have a good spring for us to take his game to the next level. He split time last year with Kevin Armstrong and I really wanted to challenge him to see if he could be an every-play tight end, can block and catch at a high level, high enough so that we can win the league. He did. His preparation coming into the spring, I really think he's put himself in situation where if he has a good summer and does everything he needs to do to move forward, I think he could be a weapon for us come fall.
Talk about the return of Matt Balasavage who sat out last year:
Matt redshirted, and he did a really good job with his body when he redshirted last year. He got himself into good physical condition. I thought he came in ready to go in January. He had a really good preparation leading into spring. Then unfortunately at the beginning of spring, he pulled his hamstring. So he was set back by the first three or four practices where he didn't really do anything. Then he eased back into it. He's finished strong, and he's playing well. He's made good improvements. I think if he can continue to make improvements, he'll be a capable back-up tight end coming into the fall.
Talk about newcomers Evan Rodriguez and Alex Jackson:
Evan and Alex are young players that we hope will improve. They brought some athleticism to the position. I think they both have pretty good speed, but they're going to need to do some work in terms of playing the position of tight end, particularly in run-blocking and understanding the run schemes. I think they have a good understanding of their routes, and they're athletic enough to do some things. They're going to have to mature and get involved in the weight program and develop as blockers to be every-down guys for us.
Anything going on in recruiting that you can talk about:
Not a lot I can talk about. We've got some guys identified in the local area, and that's always Coach Golden's goal is to really identify the great local players, and the assistant coaches here have done a really good job of getting a lot of the premier players from Philadelphia and the tri-state area to get over to practice. It's always positive when we're practicing well with a high level of enthusiasm which we did and for those guys to come to our campus and see that enthusiasm. I think the guys that walked away from our practice visits really felt good about our program and our coaches felt good about them. We're doing a good job of identifying the local guys and getting them on campus. We'll take the next steps as we move forward through spring recruiting. We will continue to identify them, qualify them academically, and get out appropriate scholarship offers.
