Louisiana Tech’s defense seeks daily improvement in practice
RUSTON, La. – With four fall camp practices complete, the Louisiana Tech football team continues to focus on improving daily and applying concepts from meetings to the playing field.
“At this point, it is just to get better from practice three and I think we got that done,” Louisiana Tech defensive coordinator Scott Power said. “We wanted to run the ball better and tackle better than we did last practice.
“Every day we teach new concepts, so guys are learning and applying them to the field. They did a good job of that and we will try to do the same thing when we come out here for practice five.”
Heat and humidity played a significant presence on Monday as it was arguably the warmest practice the Bulldogs have participated in this camp.
However, due to the work of Dave Scholz, Louisiana Tech’s director of football sports performance, and his staff this summer, it hardly played a factor.
“To be honest the heat so far in the morning has not been bad yet,” Deshon Hall said. “Coach (Dave) Scholz has done a great job of getting us acclimated and prepared for these conditions. We have been out in the heat in the afternoon during summer conditioning, which is some serious heat.”
One of the major themes of camp thus far has been the focus on meeting raising expectation levels.
“Yesterday in our meetings, our coaches raised our expectation levels,” Hall stated. “We took a step in the right direction today.
“We made those adjustments that Coach Power asked us and we have to keep making adjustments and improving as we raise those expectations throughout fall camp.”
In addition to improving each day, some things Power has been impressed about the Louisiana Tech defense is their retention of information, added depth and willingness to show up every day ready to work.
“I am impressed with our guys and how we have retained our information in the spring and the work they put in over the summer,” Power observed.
“I think we have improved our depth from day one to where we are now. Everyone has bought into what we do and comes to work every day.
“It has been a really fun group to coach and work with. I want to see continued growth and improvement from our players. They have been really receptive so far in camp and I do not expect that to change.”
Both Hall and defensive back BeeJay Williamson believe that the cohesiveness throughout the program has been as strong as ever.
“As a team, we are heading in the right direction,” Hall added.
“Coach Cumbie is instilling something in us that will stay with us forever. It is a different brotherly atmosphere. Louisiana Tech has always been about a brotherly atmosphere, but this staff has elevated it to the next level.”
“Everyone really wants to get better with each other,” BeeJay Williamson added. “Between the lines, we compete, but off the field, we love each other like our own brothers.
“It is a real brotherhood and we have really come together and grown.”
Louisiana Tech is just 23 days from its season opener on Sept. 1 at Missouri.
Kickoff is slated for 7 p.m. and the game will be broadcast nationally on ESPNU.