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Fall practice has started! I watched the interviews posted on the athletic department website and have a few observations:

1. Dino Babers is a cool guy. He has a personality meant for interviews.
2. They are practicing outside the stadium in the grass. I'm not sure why, but I have a guess and I like it. I think Coach B wants the players to treat the Doyt as their gameday home, not their practice home. I think he wants them to have a different mentality when they step foot in the stadium than going to another practice. I like it a lot!
3. Matt Johnson referred to spring practice as running around like chickens with their heads cut off. He said things are working better.
4. Did we change from Adidas to Russell Athletics? Matt Johnson's black practice jersey is Russell. I know little about Russell. I hope they make good quality lightweight jerseys and can do it in brown.

Is anyone planning on checking out practice? I'd love to hear some reactions ...

I like practicing outside of the stadium, and even better on grass as I feel turf sometimes makes you lose a feel for the natural stuff. As far as the jerseys, I believe the school has multiple licenses for equipment and the jerseys this year are still the Adidas ones from the 2012 season. I know the Wal-Mart in BG was selling some Russell made BG shirts.

Coach Babers said its harder to practice on naturtal grass because it makes you work harder since its a slower surface. So its a conditioning thing. Plus, it will make the players feel that much faster when they eventually get to games on the turf. So thats a psychological thing. He also mentioned the injury factor being greater on turf versus the grass.

Rollo83 wrote:Coach Babers said its harder to practice on naturtal grass because it makes you work harder since its a slower surface. So its a conditioning thing. Plus, it will make the players feel that much faster when they eventually get to games on the turf. So thats a psychological thing. He also mentioned the injury factor being greater on turf versus the grass.

Makes sense to me. I like the idea of practicing outside the Doyt...it will give the players a different mentality.

MarkL wrote:Fall practice has started! I watched the interviews posted on the athletic department website and have a few observations:


4. Did we change from Adidas to Russell Athletics? Matt Johnson's black practice jersey is Russell. I know little about Russell. I hope they make good quality lightweight jerseys and can do it in brown.

Is anyone planning on checking out practice? I'd love to hear some reactions ...

Fwiw, I know that Chris Kingston told me prior to the KSU game last yr. he wanted us to be back in BROWN AND ORANGE, even if it meant changing suppliers. I sure hope he can do this...Tired of seeng black substitutes.

Class of 61 wrote:

MarkL wrote:Fall practice has started! I watched the interviews posted on the athletic department website and have a few observations:


4. Did we change from Adidas to Russell Athletics? Matt Johnson's black practice jersey is Russell. I know little about Russell. I hope they make good quality lightweight jerseys and can do it in brown.

Is anyone planning on checking out practice? I'd love to hear some reactions ...

Fwiw, I know that Chris Kingston told me prior to the KSU game last yr. he wanted us to be back in BROWN AND ORANGE, even if it meant changing suppliers. I sure hope he can do this...Tired of seeng black substitutes.

He indicated something similar to me once too. I'm hoping the brown jerseys come back this season.

They are practicing on the grass to prevent injuries...grass has more give therefore fewer knee and ankle injuries...straight from the horses mouth. Expect an extensive upgrade to the outdoor natural grass practice fields..something Kingston has committed to Babers.

Suzy Dieter wrote:They are practicing on the grass to prevent injuries...grass has more give therefore fewer knee and ankle injuries...straight from the horses mouth. Expect an extensive upgrade to the outdoor natural grass practice fields..something Kingston has committed to Babers.

Nice that they will be upgrading the playing surfaces. Although, the data is pretty mixed about whether field turf actually causes more injuries.

Still curious as to when we will hear something / anything about the Doyt renovations. Or if those went out the window with Clawson's contract.

Falcon137 wrote:

Suzy Dieter wrote:They are practicing on the grass to prevent injuries...grass has more give therefore fewer knee and ankle injuries...straight from the horses mouth. Expect an extensive upgrade to the outdoor natural grass practice fields..something Kingston has committed to Babers.

Nice that they will be upgrading the playing surfaces. Although, the data is pretty mixed about whether field turf actually causes more injuries.

Still curious as to when we will hear something / anything about the Doyt renovations. Or if those went out the window with Clawson's contract.

What kind of "renovations" to the Doyt? I was unaware that was being considered?

Also: http://www.bcsn.tv/news_article/show/40 ... _id=986280

-Speaks a lot about why they are on the grass as well as "Both wide receiver Robbie Rhodes, a transfer from Baylor, and defensive end Malik Brown, a Tennessee transfer, practiced Monday with the Falcons. Babers said the team still has not received word from the NCAA as to whether the pair will be able to play this season or have to sit out until 2015."

Mr_Sweets wrote:

Falcon137 wrote:

Suzy Dieter wrote:They are practicing on the grass to prevent injuries...grass has more give therefore fewer knee and ankle injuries...straight from the horses mouth. Expect an extensive upgrade to the outdoor natural grass practice fields..something Kingston has committed to Babers.

Nice that they will be upgrading the playing surfaces. Although, the data is pretty mixed about whether field turf actually causes more injuries.

Still curious as to when we will hear something / anything about the Doyt renovations. Or if those went out the window with Clawson's contract.

What kind of "renovations" to the Doyt? I was unaware that was being considered?

Nothing was ever publicly announced. Christopher hinted at it, or maybe he actually mentioned it, in one of his Q & A sessions. When Clawson extended his deal, renovations to the stadium was part of it, and Scheier tweeted this last year -

https://twitter.com/CoachScheier/status ... 5982001153" target="_blank

Kingston has never said a word about it. I know the trustees were in Akron 2 years ago touring, Infocision stadium looking for ideas. Maybe with the changing landscape of NCAA football they decided to put it on the backburner. Which seems like the right thing to do.

I thought this past spring would be when we'd hear the word on renovations, so since we still haven't heard anything I'll say this fall is when we hear.

For history's sake ... this RFQ was delivered in 2012 and responses were due in October 2012, and we haven't heard followup since ... http://ofcc.ohio.gov/Portals/0/Document ... 125825.pdf

It's worth reading over to see what the university was considering in 2012. As we've not heard a thing since, I have to wonder if Kingston is interested in a different route than originally described in 2012. Regardless of whether or not the works described in this RFQ come to fruition, the stadium does need work and needs it soon, which is why I'm expecting to hear news of renovations soon.

Building are popping up all over campus each year.

Why not sneak a new stadium in there?

MarkL wrote:I thought this past spring would be when we'd hear the word on renovations, so since we still haven't heard anything I'll say this fall is when we hear.

For history's sake ... this RFQ was delivered in 2012 and responses were due in October 2012, and we haven't heard followup since ... http://ofcc.ohio.gov/Portals/0/Document ... 125825.pdf

It's worth reading over to see what the university was considering in 2012. As we've not heard a thing since, I have to wonder if Kingston is interested in a different route than originally described in 2012. Regardless of whether or not the works described in this RFQ come to fruition, the stadium does need work and needs it soon, which is why I'm expecting to hear news of renovations soon.

Pretty much my feelings. I thought after a MAC title run they would have begun a donation phase. Maybe they are, but, are doing so quietly with the mega boosters. This paragraph makes me feel better about my west side seats.

"The east wall of the stadium suffers from cracking and spalling of the concrete. These conditions were
documented in a petro-graphic analysis performed by TTL Associates (Toledo) in a study performed by
Schooley Caldwell Associates (Columbus) in March 2012. Recommendations for the repair of these
conditions were made at that time. The repair work has not been done. "

MarkL wrote:
For history's sake ... this RFQ was delivered in 2012 and responses were due in October 2012, and we haven't heard followup since ... http://ofcc.ohio.gov/Portals/0/Document ... 125825.pdf

Completely unacceptable. Forget patches and renovations. The time has never been more ripe to do a full-scale stadium project. Again, this is a watershed moment for the president, the trustees and the leadership of the university regarding the seriousness of their commitment to competitive Division I athletics. Every coach and AD says that if there are not cranes on campus and construction projects going on facility-wise for athletics then you're falling behind.The Sebo is gorgeous and the Doyt is a fine venue, but we can't wait for an Anderson Arena-like deterioration to occur before people recognize the need.