Just a little fun...

Okay, I've made it seem that during the off season the coaching staff does not take time to have a little fun. Well, we do take time out of our schedule to have some fun. It's not all business...

Coach Nichols took time to go play some golf at the Jefferson Christian golf tournament in Birmingham early this summer. Unfortunately for him he brought along Chad Franklin, Eric Howell, and Chuck Knapp. Nichols was heard saying that he needed to hire coaches that had a better golf game. Jefferson Christian put on a great tournament and a great time was had by all.

I guess I might have been wrong about graduate assistants. It looks like they do have a few brief moments of fun from time to time. Heath Strippling and Cam Clark got pulled out of the crowd at the Montgomery Biscuit's game to perform their rendition of YMCA by the Village People. I don't know but it looks like they enjoyed it way to much.

The life of a G.A.

As you can imagine there are a lot of things to do to keep a college football program up and running. Take it from me, there is a LOT to do. In an effort for college programs to run smoothly a position has been created to do all the things that have to be done at all hours of the day and night. That position is called a graduate assistant. These are the guys that do the jobs from coaching to doing bed checks. Every college program has them. Even Jim Nichols and Eric Howell started off at Auburn as GA's. Our team could not run without them. So, let me introduce our to you.

Blake Boren has been with the program since the start. This man has done just about everything for this team. He has coached running backs and receivers. He is best known for drinking all the Monsters in our office.

Heath Stripling is one of our new guys. He is helping out with running backs and ALL of the filming. He's known as Coach Strip by the players, but he's known for a lot more by the coaches. He is our on staff Geek Squad...literaly.

We have more GA's and their info is coming soon, so stay tuned.

Off season? There is no such thing!

Everyone always wants to know what goes on during the "off season". Well, I'm here to tell you that there is NO off season. I can't talk about any other teams, but I can tell you that the Faulkner football staff goes year round. School has been out for about two weeks now, so let me give you a run down of what we have been up to.

The past two weeks have been spent on the road for every coach on staff. Not only have we been out looking for final few pieces of our 2008 squad, but we have already begun hitting the upcoming seniors (2009) class very heavily. This is no easy task when you consider just how many schools are out there. So this is how we did it.

Gregg Baker hit 21 schools in Southwest Alabama.
Cam Clark hit 20 schools in Georgia.
Eric Howell hit 19 schools in Southeast Alabama.
Chuck Knapp hit 18 schools in North Florida.
Chad Franklin hit 18 schools in North Alabama
Dean Briggs is hitting 18 schools in Mississippi...right now.
I would also like to say that Coach Baker came back into town just long enough to top off his tanks and has headed back out to hit the Nashville area.

That is over 115+ schools in two weeks visited by our coaching staff. From Nashville to Panama City, we have been getting our name out there. We also know that there are schools that we have not visited, don't worry, we are on those in the next few weeks.

Now that some of us are back from the road, we are hard at work breaking down film and preparing for Samford...it will be here before you know it.

Now, to answer your question...there is no off season for Faulkner football. Jim Nichols and his staff knows that we have been giving a giant task of building a program. Not just any program, but a program that will make Faulkner University proud for years to come. This is no easy job and we remind ourselves daily on just how important this is. Continue to pray for this University and this program. Thank you for your support.

GO EAGLES!

Blue and White Game

Faulkner's inaugural spring game featured a little bit of everything on Saturday at the Cramton Bowl -- some offensive fireworks, some defensive dominance and lots of loose footballs.
The defense, or the Blue team, held the offense (White team) from scoring through the first nine series. The Blue team forced seven turnovers and came away with six sacks during the 142-play scrimmage.
Defensive lineman Ryan Nixon led the charge with two sacks and a fumble recovery. Another defensive lineman, Brett Edwards, added seven tackles and two more sacks. Nixon said the defense had been licking its chops since finding out the quarterbacks were live, meaning they could get hit.
"I thought (the defensive linemen) played the best we played all spring," Nixon said. "It felt good to hit (the quarterbacks). I ran over there to touch them and they didn't blow it did, so I figured I'd just lay them out."
Cornerback Dominique Johnson also turned in a strong performance, coming up with an interception and three tackles for loss.
Despite poor field position for a good portion of the afternoon, Faulkner head coach Jim Nichols was pleased with his defense's performance.
"The defense is going to be strong next year," Nichols said."We've got a lot of redshirts, a lot of young guys. We've got some good leaders over there. Our D-linemen were a lot better than (a scrimmage) last Thursday. They got a lot of pressure on the quarterback."
Philip Moore and T.J. Jacobs are still competing for the starting quarterback spot, but neither was impressive early.
In fact, it took a near-disaster to ignite the offense.
On a second-and-18, Jacobs had to chase a high snap down 15 yards behind from where he lined up in the shotgun formation. Once Jacobs picked up the loose ball, he scrambled right before firing a pass to Daniel Ross. Ross caught the pass near the 35-yard line, broke a tackle and then dashed 65 yards for the game's first score. Fumbles became a theme Saturday.















By game's end, there were 14 loose balls, including six errant snaps.
With Faulkner transitioning to Auburn's new offense, the centers are still adjusting to snapping in the shotgun formation on every play. Starting center Caleb Bagley has also missed the entire spring with an injury.
After the initial touchdown, Jacobs enjoyed a decent first half. He completed two more first-half touchdown passes -- on back-to-back snaps.
Jacobs' second touchdown came when he hit Jurrell Williams on a quick screen. He broke a tackle and wrestled another defender for 10 yards on his way to a 23-yard touchdown. On the next play, Jacobs pump-faked the same play. The pump caught Faulkner's entire secondary off-guard and Jacobs lofted a pass down the sideline to a wide open receiver and coasted to a 40-yard score.
Jacobs finished the day 14-of-30 passing for 192 yards and the three scores. However, he was also intercepted twice and sacked for a safety.
Moore didn't lead his first scoring drive until the following drive. Moore's first touchdown came when he kept on an option-read and scampered for an easy 8-yard rushing touchdown.
Moore threw for two touchdowns in the second half and finished the game completing 19-of-32 passes for 180 yards.
"I think the guys really wanted to perform," Nichols said. "They're both trying to compete for the job. In the second half, they both played really well."
Faulkner's new fast-paced offense didn't appear attractive early, but Nixon said the tempo wore on the defense in the second half.
It showed. The Blue team missed several tackles after the halftime break.
"It's tiring," Nixon said. "They're at full-speed every play."
The slow offensive start didn't concern Nichols. Playing in a new offense in front of approximately 600 fans, Nichols even said he thought several players were nervous. Still, the second-year coach came away thinking his offense had progressed significantly.
"This is our 14th practice as far as putting this offense in," Nichols said. "We know it's going to take time. We had a scrimmage last Thursday and we're 10 times better than we were last Thursday."























































Luke Brietzke-Advertiser