Northwestern University Athletics
Wildcats Put on the Pads for Fourth Practice
4/1/2006 12:00:00 AM | Football
April 1, 2006
EVANSTON, Ill. -- Saturday's chilly temperatures and overcast skies did not dampen Northwestern's fourth practice of the spring season, as the Wildcats competed in a spirited morning practice on NU's FieldTurf practice field. The first practice in full pads proved to be physical and full of enthusiasm, especially during full-team and 7-on-7 drills.
As part of NUsports.com's continuing coverage of spring football, we sat down with sophomore defensive end Kevin Mims (The Woodlands, Texas/The Woodlands), a Sporting News honorable mention Freshman All-American, and defensive line coach Eric Washington to see how the spring is progressing on their side of the ball.
"We're coming along well," Mims said of the line. "We may be young but we've got experience. Almost all of us played last year in some game or another."
After emerging as a standout last season, Mims suddenly finds himself as a leader in only his second year.
"I love the leadership role, so it's where I want to be," he said "It's natural for me."
Washington said he has seen almost exponential improvement from Mims throughout this short career.
"The thing about Kevin is every game last year I could see growth and improvement with him," he said. "He had an outstanding winter. He's bigger, he's stronger and he has a lot more savvy and he's utilizing that. I'm seeing him do things that I don't necessarily have to coach every rep of whatever we're doing out here in practice. He's maturing a lot."
Much of Washington and Mims' optimism derives from the intense off-season strength and conditioning programs, which have made an impact early in spring practice.
"We really emphasize having strength gains and making strength gains with their diet and with the strength and conditioning program. We have added a volume training dimension to what we're doing and all that stuff is paying off," Washington said.
Washington insists, though, that individual gains have little impact on the success of the unit. He said he recognizes Mims' leadership ability and potential, but continues to preach unity for a group that will be key to the team's success.
"The strength of the group right now is the group," he said. "I'm trying to make sure that they know that we have to perform well as a unit. Having one guy perform well and three others not, when you're playing with four guys, doesn't do us any good. So right now I think the group is progressing well. Their strength is their attitude."
Practice Notes:
• Aside from the individual unit drills, the team ran a series of offensive plays from scrimmage, rotating between redshirt freshmen quarterbacks Andrew Brewer (Tulsa, Okla./Jenks) and Mike Kafka (Oak Lawn, Ill./Chicago St. Rita). Each quarterback ran five plays against various defensive personnel combinations.
• Kafka displayed mobility with the quarterback draw and completed a 40-yard touchdown pass to redshirt freshman receiver Kevin Frymire (Burr Ridge, Ill./Nazareth Academy). He also completed a 20-yard pass to junior tight end Chris Malleo (Wall Township, N.J./Wall Township/The Hun School of Princeton).
• The defensive highlight of the morning was an interception by defensive tackle Keegan Kennedy (Jupiter, Fla./Cardinal Newman) on a bobbled screen pass.
• Brewer ran the option successfully and completed a bubble screen pass to Kim Thompson (Inkster, Mich./Detroit Country Day) for a notable gain.
