Fuente laments Tigers’ flagging effort

Coach says football team must learn toughness to practice hard every time

It was, by all accounts, a miserable afternoon.

Rain was falling, temperatures were dipping into the upper 40s, and the practice fields at the Murphy Athletic Complex were doing their best to absorb the water. What the University of Memphis football team didn’t need Tuesday was to add to the miserable conditions.

Unfortunately for the Tigers, their effort dampened whatever enthusiasm had been generated by a reasonably efficient spring scrimmage last weekend. U of M coach Justin Fuente was livid at his team’s approach to start the practice — the 12th of 15 NCAAalloted workouts — and was upset two hours later when the exercise ended in heavier rainfall.

“I didn’t like much,” Fuente said. “We’ve had some good days of practice, but I don’t think today was one of them. There wasn’t a lot of enthusiasm, passion. We’ll get better.

“That’s what happens when you’re the young team: You have a couple of good days; then (the players’ effort level) falls off. They don’t understand what it’s like to hold the rope for 15 straight practices. That’s on us as coaches, too. We have to get them rolling. We have to get them ready to practice better.”

The Tigers, 4-8 in Fuente’s first season, return to practice Thursday, conduct their annual Blue-Gray scrimmage Saturday at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium and conclude workouts next Tuesday at the Murphy Complex.

It won’t be enough time to cure all of the U of M’s shortcomings, but Fuente expects a better effort in the remaining workouts. He said Saturday’s Blue-Gray event should provide proper focus.

“I’m looking for good fundamentals and (for them) to play hard,” Fuente said. “We’re going to try and get good base work in.”

While Tuesday was lackluster in Fuente’s eyes, the spring hasn’t been a disaster, even if the weather has been mostly uncooperative.

“We’ve come a long way, but we still have a long ways to go,”

Fuente said. “The biggest deal is we have to change our kids’ level of perspective. I think they have a habit of falling back into ‘Well, things are a lot better than they were a year ago.’

“That’s not good enough. We still have a large mountain to climb.”

After spending 17 years in Conference USA, the Tigers move this fall into the conference formerly known as the Big East. It will be a Bowl Championship Series league with, among other programs, Cincinnati, UConn, Louisville and Rutgers.

Fuente said his team has to grasp the importance of “having the toughness” to practice at a high level each time out.

“We have some sometimes,” he said. “Sometimes, we don’t.”

Offensively, a battle for the starting quarterback job — one held by seniorto-be Jacob Karam — continues between Karam, 6-5 redshirt freshman Paxton Lynch and Eric Mathews. Karam has been working mostly with the No. 1 offense, but Lynch has had his share of snaps with the first unit, too.

Defensively, the unit has been generally efficient despite the absence of several key players, including injured defensive back Lonnie Ballentine, who is out with a shoulder injury.

“We’ve got competition at every spot,” Fuente said. “There’s probably one or two guys who have nailed down starting spots. Other than that, it’s all up for grabs.”