By DAVE GUFFEY for GoGriz.com
The University of Montana Grizzlies will have had just three football practice sessions so far this week when they hold their first scrimmage of spring drills on Saturday, March 23. The action gets underway at approximately 1:00 p.m. in Washington-Grizzly Stadium. The scrimmage will be free to the public.
This will the first of three scrims for UM this spring. They also have a game-type scrimmage at noon on Friday, April 13, in Ronan, and conclude 2013 spring drills with a scrim in Missoula on Saturday evening at 7:00 o-clock, on April 19.
Like most scrimmages this early in the spring, tomorrow’s will have a situational format, and it will include all phases, including offense, defense, and the kicking game, and consist of around 90-100 plays, said second-year UM head coach Mick Delaney.
“Like we’ve said from the beginning, tomorrow the number one thing we are looking for this spring is competition,” Delaney said prior to Friday’s third practice session. “We’ve got some young guys who I think are ready to start pushing to play football for the Griz. It will be a real important evaluation day for some of those younger guys.
“And obviously our older guys have to keep themselves going to, because there is no free lunch, sort-of-speak,” Delaney said. “We really expect it to be pretty intense, although it won’t be a keeping score type of thing. So overall, the points of emphasis will be to play fast, compete like heck, and have some fun.
“The biggest thing, I think, has been their energy,” Delaney said when asked what has stood out so far in the early stages of spring drills. “We ask so much of them energy-wise, both the players and coaches. It’s fun to watch them compete with the energy and passion that they’ve got. It’s only been two days, I understand, but I couldn’t be happier with the effort and the energy that we’ve got right now – and we’ve just got to keep it going that way.”
The Griz will have this Sunday (March 24) off, and resume their schedule with three practices next week on Monday (4:20 p.m. start), Wednesday (8:30 p.m.), and Friday (4:20 p.m.).