Air Force opens spring football practice a week from today, and coming in Monday’s edition of The Gazette will be our spring football preview package.
But here are some quick notes as the Falcons prepare to hit the field …
Light at linebacker
Air Force will be relatively healthy for spring but a trio of potential starting linebackers will miss most to all of the 15 practices.
Junior inside linebacker Ken Lamendola (knee), junior outside linebacker Patrick Hennessey (shoulder) and freshman outside linebacker Alex Means (foot) all still are rehabbing injuries suffered last season.
Air Force coach Troy Calhoun said Lamendola will not participate in spring practice, and that Means and Hennessey could make it back for the end of spring.
Jefferson limited
Sophomore quarterback Tim Jefferson “might be a bit limited,” Calhoun said, in spring practice because of his right knee. Jefferson had a minor arthroscopic procedure on the knee to clean it up.
Position changes
Junior Bradley Connor has been moved from the defensive line to offensive guard.
“We felt that was his best chance to get on the field,” Calhoun said.
In addition, junior Ben Cochran will begin spring practices at safety. Cochran, who was a reserve quarterback last year and took the majority of snaps in the BYU game after Jefferson left with a rib injury, began last fall on defense but was moved back to quarterback early in the season.
One player who won’t change positions is Asher Clark. The sophomore, who spent last spring and August at quarterback, will be at tailback in the spring.
With Jefferson limited, Clark at tailback and Cochran back on defense, Air Force’s snaps will be split between sophomore Connor Dietz and freshmen Justin Smith and Tucker Tipton.
Graduate assistants chosen
Air Force has selected its graduate assistants for the 2010 season.
Justin Moore and Nick Charles will assist the academy team, while Chris Thomas and Ryan Gonzales will work with the prep school squad.
Etc.
Calhoun said there would be some players who missed practice time for academics, but he did not name any.
“Every year we’re going to have that because we’re going to make sure that’s understood thoroughly that that’s the priority.” …
The Falcons’ first practice is set for Thursday at 3:30 p.m.
It will be real interesting to see how the O-line shapes up, and who will replace Ben Garland. How those 2 postions fare will be key to beating Navy and cracking the MWC top 3.
Jake from the article below there are several players that may have pro prtential. With the messup with Armys (Caleb Campbell) will they still not consider changing the 2 year rule. It was stated that Campbell would join his classmates in Iraq and Afganistsan. Campbell has coached and is now training to bob sled in the olympics. What value was added to our military by not allowing him to go directly into the NFL? He did not serve any real militay time, he was just penalized by not allowing him to persue his dream.
Pro Potential:
Air Force players must serve at least two years of a five-year active duty commitment before they can entertain thoughts about a pro career. But there are several players who could, down the line, make a pro team:
• DT Ben Garland—The 6-5, 275-pound nose guard commanded double-teams but still made 10.5 tackles for losses as a senior. He was the one player opponents most had to account for during the 2009 season, and he allowed the Falcons to play nickel packages effectively.
• SS Chris Thomas—Though hampered by a groin injury for much of 2009, the 5-11, 205-pound three-year starter made a splash in the Armed Forces Bowl, picking off a pair of passes and making 12 tackles.
• P Brandon Geyer—In his first season as the Falcons’ starting punter, the 6-4, 200-pound Geyer averaged 43.0 yards, with 17 of his 48 punts pinning opponents inside their 20-yard lines.
Jackson –
It does seem kind of silly, doesn’t it? What’s the difference between assisting withthe football team and learning bobsledding and playing in the NFL? (Other than playing in the NFL being much better for PR).
I’ve said all along, the players who can make an NFL roster (not the Arena League or the practice squad of an NFL team) should be allowed to do so. For one, their service can be postponed. And two, I just don’t think there’d be that many guys who’d make rosters.
Jake,
Thanks for the feedback. To help some of the players and parents who may have a shot at the next level, what ideas do you have that could help them get the policy changers take a look, once again, at what happened to Campbell last year and maybe make some adjustments for the few who may have a shot? Chris Thomas, another possible pro prospect, will spend his first year after graduating coaching at the Prep School. This could be another player penalized with the two-year rule and in turn this has no value added to our military.
Jackson -
I guess players/parents need to continue to send letters to the DoD, which has final say on this.
I can’t understand why players can take time to train for the Olympics but not the NFL. Like I said, I think the number of players who actually would make active NFL rosters would be pretty small.
The biggest problem in allowing direct access to professional sports by service academy graduates is the perception that they are somehow getting a better “deal” than their classmates who go on to duties that, in some cases, put their lives at risk. That perception is fairly simple to explain; it’s much more difficult to explain the fact that service academy graduates are frequently assigned to positions that do not involve purely military roles, that the services have, for years, accommodated Olympic athletes in both assignments and training, and the recruiting value that the services receive from having academy graduates participating in highly publicized roles.
In addition to the relative risk imbalance, I think the negative perception is also tied to the compensation problem-the fact that pro athletes have the opportunity to make 10 to 100 times the earnings of their service academy classmates rankles people. At least the compensation perception is a legitimate one; my understanding is that people training for the Olympics or placed into coaching are not usually receiving any additional compensation above their military salary.
Jackson and Jake make valid points above. But allowing service academy graduates to move directly into professional sports is a very difficult political sell when we have troops actively engaged in combat operations. I honestly don’t see any kind of change to the Robinson Rule-two years of active service before turning pro-anytime soon.
It would be nice for those few who attend an Academy to be able to go in to pro sports right out of school, and it would be good publicity; but the reason students are at the Academy is to be leaders of men and women in the armed services. I think the two years and out is more than fair and doesn’t hurt the athlete that much. The David Robinson rule is a good one (and he even had to get a waiver to stay in the military after growing so much while at school).
IF students could opt out of their committment because they’re good at something – where does it end? Should we give the same deal to an incredibly smart business-man? A gifted pianist? Dancer? etc?
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