Mountain Hawks open preseason camp with Thursday night practice
8/7/2014 10:57:00 PM | Football
BETHLEHEM, Pa. – On a warm but comfortable early August evening, the Lehigh football team opened up its 2014 preseason camp with a workout Thursday night on Frank Banko Field. The Mountain Hawks reported to campus Wednesday for physicals and meetings and held their first workout of camp Thursday night. Lehigh has just under a month until it opens the season against James Madison at Goodman Stadium and head coach Andy Coen liked what he saw from his team in its first practice of the new season.
"I was pleased," said Coen, who enters his ninth season. "The kids came ready to play. Most of the freshmen came ready to go. The young guys just need to learn all the little things – the attention to detail things – but it's really no different than the other groups we've had. I like the way the kids ran around out there. I think we're talented, we just have a lot of names that people don't really know right now."(8/7/2014) Football first practice, 8/7/14
Lehigh enters preseason camp having posted a 39-9 record over the last four seasons. The Mountain Hawks won Patriot League titles in 2010 and 2011 and are looking to return to the top of the league after dropping winner-take-all games at home in each of the last two seasons.
Thursday night's practice marks the beginning of the 131st season of Lehigh football with a regular season schedule that features five games at Goodman Stadium, beginning September 6 against James Madison and culminates in the 150th meeting of college football's most played rivalry when Lehigh and Lafayette meet at Yankee Stadium on November 22.
The Mountain Hawks enter the 2014 campaign with six new coaches, including new coordinators on both sides of the ball.
"We had the staff intact through the spring so our kids got to be around them, but only for that month or so of spring practice," Coen explained. "The guys haven't really had an opportunity to be around their coaches and develop those relationships, which I think are critical. You want to develop players by developing trust between each other as that creates better experiences for both the players and coaches. I'm excited to see how all that develops.
Coen added, "In the spring there's very little stress but now we're preparing for a lot of very competitive football games. How our players react to how the coaches coach is going to be really interesting to see."
Lehigh was picked second in the Patriot League preseason poll last week at the league's football media day, but despite the positive prognostications, the Mountain Hawks are trying to focus on the task at hand. The team has adopted the motto T.N.T., short for There's No Tomorrow, with the student-athletes acknowledging that nothing is given and everything is earned.
For both the coaches and players, much of the preseason focus will be on focus.
"I want to see people be focused and just concentrate on their technique and do a great job from a mental standpoint," Coen said. "The young players who are here for the first time are going to make mistakes, but what I want to see from that is growth from those mistakes so that they're not making the same mistakes. It's not a real physical early part of camp but it gives us an opportunity to emphasize techniques and to really learn what it's like to focus in college football."
The Mountain Hawks open camp with 22 freshmen. Coen and the coaching staff have been impressed with their skill and energy, but teaching focus will be a different challenge.
"You know they're going to give great effort," Coen said of the freshman class. "They're like puppies right now. They're really excited but they really need to understand what focus is all about. A lot of these kids have played for very strong high school programs where they've done a lot of it on the field. There's so much classroom work at the college level so we'll see how the kids process all that information and maintain their focus."
One of the main areas of focus for Lehigh on the field this preseason will be at the quarterback position. Brandon Bialkowski emerged last year and earned All-Patriot League honors as a senior before suffering a season-ending injury. Senior Matt McHale and sophomore Nick Shafnisky figure to see a majority of the first and second team reps early on in camp, while seniors Gerard Poutier and A.J. Visconti plus freshmen Matt Timochenko and Brendan Craven will have opportunities early in practice to work with a number of Lehigh's younger players.
"The first half hour or so in the first couple days will be for our young players, the incoming freshmen and some sophomores," Coen explained. "That will give us an opportunity as coaches to evaluate our new players and give those kids more reps in terms of drill work and schemes. That's how we'll get reps to the younger guys. Matt (McHale) and Nick (Shafnisky) will get the bulk of the reps with the ones and twos early on and we'll see where it goes from there."
Thursday's opening practice gave the coaching staff an opportunity to see all six quarterbacks throwing to a multitude of receivers.
"The quarterbacks were obviously much healthier than we were," Coen said. It was good to see balls be thrown crisply and on time and giving us an opportunity to evaluate the wide receivers. I thought Mike Anderson, a sophomore, had a really good day today. I like that whole good young group of wide receivers. I think that can be a really good class as they continue to develop."
Along with the quarterback competition, Coen will be keeping an eye on the offensive line and the defensive front seven.
"We need to get the offensive line pieced together," Coen said. "We lost a couple guys from last year but we also feel good about the guys we have back. We've had guys who have played at differing levels. Piecing that together is going to be critical.
Coen continued, "Defensively it's the same type of system but with Joe Bottiglieri now coordinating we've made some subtle changes and some not-so-subtle. I'm interested to see how the whole front seven improves from a year ago. My expectation is its going to be a much stouter front seven. "
Among the tweaks defensively, sophomore linebacker Pierce Ripanti moves from the outside to the inside and junior Matt Laub has bulked up to transition from outside linebacker to defensive end.
In accordance with NCAA rules, Thursday's workout was conducted without pads, just helmets for the Brown and White. Over the next few days Lehigh will progress to uppers (helmets and shoulder pads only) before donning full pads for the first time Monday afternoon. The first double session will take place on Tuesday.
Lehigh's preseason camp will run through Sunday, August 24 with the annual Alumni Steak Fry taking place that afternoon.
"We've spoken a lot about focus and that's not going change," Coen said. "You have to understand where you're at and what you're doing every play. I don't want anybody talking about anything but this practice and this play. We need to learn as a team to take that approach collectively every day. That's the conceptual part of it.
"Schematically, what we really need to see is a defense that's going to create some turnovers," Coen concluded. "We handled the ball okay offensively but we created very few turnovers and that put us in some bad spots. We've talked about a disciplined, determined, dominant defense and that's what we're trying to create on that side of the ball."
Earlier this week, the first of two major FCS polls was released with Lehigh receiving six points to be listed among the others receiving votes in the FCS Coaches Poll. The FCS Coaches poll is voted on by 26 FCS coaches. Among Lehigh's 2014 opponents, New Hampshire is ranked fourth while Patriot League preseason favorite Fordham is ranked 12th. Lehigh's season-opening opponent, James Madison, is also listed among others receiving votes along with Patriot League foe Holy Cross. The preseason Sports Network FCS Top 25 will be out soon. The Mountain Hawks were ranked in both national polls for 44 consecutive weeks before dropping out of the rankings in the final 2013 poll.
The Mountain Hawks will open the 2014 season on Saturday September 6 when they host the Dukes of James Madison at Goodman Stadium. Kickoff is set for just after 12:30 p.m. Tickets to the JMU game and all Lehigh home football games can be purchased by calling 610-7LU-GAME or by visiting LehighTickets.com.
Like Lehigh Football on Facebook and follow on Twitter for exclusive updates throughout the season.
"I was pleased," said Coen, who enters his ninth season. "The kids came ready to play. Most of the freshmen came ready to go. The young guys just need to learn all the little things – the attention to detail things – but it's really no different than the other groups we've had. I like the way the kids ran around out there. I think we're talented, we just have a lot of names that people don't really know right now."
Lehigh enters preseason camp having posted a 39-9 record over the last four seasons. The Mountain Hawks won Patriot League titles in 2010 and 2011 and are looking to return to the top of the league after dropping winner-take-all games at home in each of the last two seasons.
Thursday night's practice marks the beginning of the 131st season of Lehigh football with a regular season schedule that features five games at Goodman Stadium, beginning September 6 against James Madison and culminates in the 150th meeting of college football's most played rivalry when Lehigh and Lafayette meet at Yankee Stadium on November 22.
The Mountain Hawks enter the 2014 campaign with six new coaches, including new coordinators on both sides of the ball.
"We had the staff intact through the spring so our kids got to be around them, but only for that month or so of spring practice," Coen explained. "The guys haven't really had an opportunity to be around their coaches and develop those relationships, which I think are critical. You want to develop players by developing trust between each other as that creates better experiences for both the players and coaches. I'm excited to see how all that develops.
Coen added, "In the spring there's very little stress but now we're preparing for a lot of very competitive football games. How our players react to how the coaches coach is going to be really interesting to see."
Lehigh was picked second in the Patriot League preseason poll last week at the league's football media day, but despite the positive prognostications, the Mountain Hawks are trying to focus on the task at hand. The team has adopted the motto T.N.T., short for There's No Tomorrow, with the student-athletes acknowledging that nothing is given and everything is earned.
For both the coaches and players, much of the preseason focus will be on focus.
"I want to see people be focused and just concentrate on their technique and do a great job from a mental standpoint," Coen said. "The young players who are here for the first time are going to make mistakes, but what I want to see from that is growth from those mistakes so that they're not making the same mistakes. It's not a real physical early part of camp but it gives us an opportunity to emphasize techniques and to really learn what it's like to focus in college football."
The Mountain Hawks open camp with 22 freshmen. Coen and the coaching staff have been impressed with their skill and energy, but teaching focus will be a different challenge.
"You know they're going to give great effort," Coen said of the freshman class. "They're like puppies right now. They're really excited but they really need to understand what focus is all about. A lot of these kids have played for very strong high school programs where they've done a lot of it on the field. There's so much classroom work at the college level so we'll see how the kids process all that information and maintain their focus."
One of the main areas of focus for Lehigh on the field this preseason will be at the quarterback position. Brandon Bialkowski emerged last year and earned All-Patriot League honors as a senior before suffering a season-ending injury. Senior Matt McHale and sophomore Nick Shafnisky figure to see a majority of the first and second team reps early on in camp, while seniors Gerard Poutier and A.J. Visconti plus freshmen Matt Timochenko and Brendan Craven will have opportunities early in practice to work with a number of Lehigh's younger players.
"The first half hour or so in the first couple days will be for our young players, the incoming freshmen and some sophomores," Coen explained. "That will give us an opportunity as coaches to evaluate our new players and give those kids more reps in terms of drill work and schemes. That's how we'll get reps to the younger guys. Matt (McHale) and Nick (Shafnisky) will get the bulk of the reps with the ones and twos early on and we'll see where it goes from there."
Thursday's opening practice gave the coaching staff an opportunity to see all six quarterbacks throwing to a multitude of receivers.
"The quarterbacks were obviously much healthier than we were," Coen said. It was good to see balls be thrown crisply and on time and giving us an opportunity to evaluate the wide receivers. I thought Mike Anderson, a sophomore, had a really good day today. I like that whole good young group of wide receivers. I think that can be a really good class as they continue to develop."
Along with the quarterback competition, Coen will be keeping an eye on the offensive line and the defensive front seven.
"We need to get the offensive line pieced together," Coen said. "We lost a couple guys from last year but we also feel good about the guys we have back. We've had guys who have played at differing levels. Piecing that together is going to be critical.
Coen continued, "Defensively it's the same type of system but with Joe Bottiglieri now coordinating we've made some subtle changes and some not-so-subtle. I'm interested to see how the whole front seven improves from a year ago. My expectation is its going to be a much stouter front seven. "
Among the tweaks defensively, sophomore linebacker Pierce Ripanti moves from the outside to the inside and junior Matt Laub has bulked up to transition from outside linebacker to defensive end.
In accordance with NCAA rules, Thursday's workout was conducted without pads, just helmets for the Brown and White. Over the next few days Lehigh will progress to uppers (helmets and shoulder pads only) before donning full pads for the first time Monday afternoon. The first double session will take place on Tuesday.
Lehigh's preseason camp will run through Sunday, August 24 with the annual Alumni Steak Fry taking place that afternoon.
"We've spoken a lot about focus and that's not going change," Coen said. "You have to understand where you're at and what you're doing every play. I don't want anybody talking about anything but this practice and this play. We need to learn as a team to take that approach collectively every day. That's the conceptual part of it.
"Schematically, what we really need to see is a defense that's going to create some turnovers," Coen concluded. "We handled the ball okay offensively but we created very few turnovers and that put us in some bad spots. We've talked about a disciplined, determined, dominant defense and that's what we're trying to create on that side of the ball."
Earlier this week, the first of two major FCS polls was released with Lehigh receiving six points to be listed among the others receiving votes in the FCS Coaches Poll. The FCS Coaches poll is voted on by 26 FCS coaches. Among Lehigh's 2014 opponents, New Hampshire is ranked fourth while Patriot League preseason favorite Fordham is ranked 12th. Lehigh's season-opening opponent, James Madison, is also listed among others receiving votes along with Patriot League foe Holy Cross. The preseason Sports Network FCS Top 25 will be out soon. The Mountain Hawks were ranked in both national polls for 44 consecutive weeks before dropping out of the rankings in the final 2013 poll.
The Mountain Hawks will open the 2014 season on Saturday September 6 when they host the Dukes of James Madison at Goodman Stadium. Kickoff is set for just after 12:30 p.m. Tickets to the JMU game and all Lehigh home football games can be purchased by calling 610-7LU-GAME or by visiting LehighTickets.com.
Like Lehigh Football on Facebook and follow on Twitter for exclusive updates throughout the season.
Lehigh Sports Central: Football
Tuesday, December 02
MHT EP6 - Football
Thursday, November 20
Brown & Flight - Episode 4
Friday, November 14
Football Blitz
Friday, October 31
