JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman head football coach Ken Sparks has called the Eagles' 2015 spring practice period the most challenging of his 36-year collegiate coaching career.
Carson-Newman will conclude its spring practice schedule Saturday morning with a situational scrimmage Saturday morning at Burke-Tarr Stadium. The team will not play and Orange and Blue game this spring, a big reason why this spring has been so challenging in Sparks' mind.
"In all my 35 years at Carson-Newman, I've never seen anything like this," Sparks said. "The only thing that's even close is when we started at Gibbs in 1968. This has been just crazy this year. When you start thinking about not being able to take advantage of 15 practices; that's tough to reach all your goals. It's tough to become a better blocker and tackler if you can't block and tackles."
The Eagles will only use 11 of their NCAA-allowed 15 practice periods due to a combination of snow, rain and a variety of other Murphy's Law maladies.
C-N started spring practice on February 18, then Mother Nature dumped several inches of snow and ice on the Lakeway Area that kept C-N off the field until March. The Eagles were able to work in a handful of practices that week before leaving for spring break.
Through the challenges with the schedule, Carson-Newman has also had to deal with a rash of injuries. C-N has practiced with just two true running backs and two true wide receivers. As a result, Sparks praised back-up quarterbacks Goose Manning (Ooltewah, Tenn.) and Darvia Dubose (Darlington, S.C.) for being willing to spend time in the backfield just to give the Eagles a stopgap at running back and some temporary depth.
"We've had to be creative doing group work against each other," Sparks said. "We've done some half line stuff using just one running back and one wide receiver. We've had to do a lot of two tight end work, which isn't something that we use a lot."
Even with the challenges, Sparks singled out the starters along the offensive line for their improvement as a unit. He also pointed to linebackers Malik Miles (Norton, Va.) and Sha'Heem Stupart (Taylors, S.C.) as defenders who had made strides this spring.
Carson-Newman opens its 2015 football season Sept. 4, a Thursday night under the lights of Burke-Tarr Stadium, against the University of the Cumberlands. For more offseason updates on C-N football, check cneagles.com regularly and following the Eagles on Twitter at both @cnathletics and @cnfootball.
