Over The Pylon

Pete Lembo's first spring at BSU off to positive start

For several years now, Edge and I have been bemoaning the lack of coverage for spring practice at Ball State. No, we didn’t expect ESPNU to break out the camera trucks and satellites to broadcast the actual Cardinal-White game to the hundreds of folks who may watch it, but it still would have been nice to have something a bit more impressive than what we’ve been given over the last several years. Count technology, news, and updates as things improved under the watchful eye of Pete Lembo. Just four practices in (the Cards are off today) and we’ve already seen daily updates on the BallStateSports official sites not to mention the informative, although standard, spring prospectus with your early look at the depth chart and a Q+A from Coach. Earth shaking? Of course not. A step in the right direction? Absolutely. You can’t outpace and outshine the competition until you close the gaps that may have made you a distant second.

If you haven’t been keeping up with the daily reports, here’s some tidbits that may sate your Cardinal football appetite…

• The word of the first practices has been “baby steps” as players seem to be adjusting to a new system, a new way of doing things, and a new man deciding how those said things get done in said new system. The defense was specifically credited with intensity and effort, and the offensive “issues” like dropped snaps and not precision timing and execution seemed to be expected.
• Perhaps the shortest depth on the roster is at defensive end. Lorren Womack is being looked at by the staff for a shift from his current linebacker role. Womack’s speed and strength could cause nightmare matchups for the opposing offensive line and actually give the Cardinals several options for disrupting the other side of the ball and creating pressure, two things that at times last year were sorely missing.
• Speaking of defensive switches, Aaron Morris and Zac Jordan have transitioned from safety to linebacker, which will no doubt give different options in terms of athleticism and skill for that unit.
• More than once, the cohesion of the staff has been mentioned as there is an underlying air of familiarity with the folks that Coach Lembo brought in. Having each coach on the same page, even the holdovers in Darryl Dixon and Joey Lynch, will hopefully trickle down to the players and solidify this team.
• Special teams seems to be a focus for Coach Lembo, as Scott Kovanda got several shout outs for his work so far this spring. Scott Secor has also been able to put kickoffs inside the 5 with a nearly 4 second hang time. Those kinds of kickoffs have been missing in recent years, and putting an opponent’s offense already behind the eight ball with a long field should be a nice change of pace.
• Still no definitive answer on who will be the starting QB come fall. Wenning and Page still listed as -OR- on the depth chart.

In case you’ve missed the 2011 Spring Prospectus, here’s that for you: Spring Prospectus

Additionally, Coach Lembo has fired off his first “From the Coach” newslettter to vested parties, fans, alums, etc. with his thoughts on the program and the status of the Cardinals. Since there was a specific request in the newsletter to keep things in the BSU family so it won’t end up on “some blog somewhere” we won’t be quoting, just generalizing. If you want the dirty details, sign up for it on the BSU mothership website as it has great potential to build inroads with the fanbase and keep you vested in Cardinal football as we all journey together down this long cold road of the offseason. Edge and I will have a look at the depth chart, some always impressive Edge stat work, a freshly minted podcast, and a look at the ’11 opponents all coming up, as well as recaps of Spring Practice. Go Cards!

Filed under: Ball State, SpringBall |