Spring Football 2016

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#2      
KJKobs
Second and Chalmers said:
Not having a proper Spring Game? :(
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At the Chicago event on Monday night, Lovie said that he wanted to keep something on the calendar for Saturday, April 16th that would be open to the public but hinted that it might not be a "traditional spring game"
 
#3      
WesterveltVictoryCigar
Second and Chalmers said:
Well, for the purposes of our program this year, an aggressive attempt to put a lot of people in the stands to change the narrative.

Maybe the thought was that there was only downside risk to doing that.
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Maybe spending $21 million on a head coach is more effective at "narrative changing"?

Looks like the scrimmage will be free, so that should help attendance.
 
#4      
riffraff
BTN usually visits each spring game and televises it later. I'd hate to miss that TV exposure.
 
#5      
mailpost21
riffraff said:
BTN usually visits each spring game and televises it later. I'd hate to miss that TV exposure.
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There will be a scrimmage on April 16 but no actual game. Wouldn`t surprise me if BTN showed up for that.
 
#6      
Warriors1994
I would assume it is going to take some serious time to put in a completely new offensive system for a spring game. Would assume it's a big scrimmage like what we have seen at SHG before. Just offense vs defense not divided up into two completely separate teams. Pretty sure other school have already do this as their "Spring Game" such as Michigan but could be wrong
 
#7      
Illinnoying Orange
riffraff said:
BTN usually visits each spring game and televises it later. I'd hate to miss that TV exposure.
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We won't miss any TV exposure ... If anything it will increase during the B1G network spring coverage due to the coaching hire. This year no traditional Spring game is completely understandable and the open practice will be covered plenty by the media.
 
#8      
quhawks12
Second and Chalmers said:
Well, for the purposes of our program this year, an aggressive attempt to put a lot of people in the stands to change the narrative.

Maybe the thought was that there was only downside risk to doing that.
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So a glorified practice where they invite the public? Hmm...sounds almost exactly like what they're doing, no?
 
#9      
Second and Chalmers
quhawks12 said:
So a glorified practice where they invite the public? Hmm...sounds almost exactly like what they're doing, no?
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I think it's a question of publicity. They're clearly deciding to go low-key here.

Having the scheduling up in the air made it tough. Alternate universe, if Lovie and Whitman are able to stand up there at his intro press conference and say "Illini Nation: Spring Game is April X, a new era dawns that day, be there" and you hype it along the way, then you could be looking at generating a lot of "Oh my god, look how many people went to Illinois' spring game" headlines, the kind of thing that never happens for Illinois football. Get recruits down there, the whole bit. That sort of thing would be mentioned on every game telecast this year.

You'd be fighting an uphill battle to generate that kind of publicity now. And maybe the idea is, one threat of rain and all of a sudden its the same old empty stadium for the spring game and that's the headline. This way you're managing expectations.

I dunno, just thinking out loud.
 
#10      
BWBW
Going along with the "thinking out loud," perhaps this newly assembled staff perceives spring practice as a means to evaluate the talent on hand and deciding how to proceed.

Perhaps they'll have a basic playbook to handout. Can they possibly have something more detailed?
 
#11      
UofI08
I think it's as simple as having less than 2 weeks to install a completely new philosophy and playbook. Sure you could have a spring game, but it's more important to make as much progress as possible installing the new systems when starting this late relative to a normal hiring schedule.
 
#12      
Second and Chalmers
UofI08 said:
I think it's as simple as having less than 2 weeks to install a completely new philosophy and playbook. Sure you could have a spring game, but it's more important to make as much progress as possible installing the new systems when starting this late relative to a normal hiring schedule.
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I mean, from a football perspective, spring games are total nonsense. You could have the team go out there right now. Their purpose is a marketing tool.
 
#13      
UofI08
Second and Chalmers said:
I mean, from a football perspective, spring games are total nonsense. You could have the team go out there right now. Their purpose is a marketing tool.
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Oh I agree 100%. I'm just saying they literally may not have enough time to actually have many plays to run in an actual "game" format.
 
#14      
AaronB28
Bet McGee goes and gets a duel threat guy from the south if the others don't work out
 
#15      
combes
Hopefully, Peters is that guy. He is a duel threat guy from the south.
 
#16      
Doak1960
BWBW said:
Going along with the "thinking out loud," perhaps this newly assembled staff perceives spring practice as a means to evaluate the talent on hand and deciding how to proceed.

Perhaps they'll have a basic playbook to handout. Can they possibly have something more detailed?
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The playbook is out and will take time to learn. Phair should have a handle on the majority of defensive players. LB/DB coaches should have a good handle on their guys. I guess you can practice but the use of a football is not allowed.
 
#17      
BWBW
Good to know, Doak1960. Thanks.
 
#19      
Joel Goodson
Doak1960 said:
The playbook is out and will take time to learn. Phair should have a handle on the majority of defensive players. LB/DB coaches should have a good handle on their guys. I guess you can practice but the use of a football is not allowed.
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What the heck?
 
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