Sports

UNWEATHERED: UAPB CAN’T STOP THE RAIN; RAIN DOESN’T STOP PRACTICE

By Josh Tinker/Commercial Sports Editor
Thursday, August 7, 2008 12:48 PM CDT

Even Arkansas-Pine Bluff coach Monte Coleman couldn’t stop mother nature.

Pine Bluff Commercial/Ralph Fitzgerald UAPB's head football coach Monte Coleman has a few words of encourgement for his defensive players at practice as the rains start to fall Wednesday afternoon.

The man who made a living stopping NFL running backs couldn’t stop the rain. With his team fully entrenched in a practice Wednesday afternoon, the skies opened up. Rain and lightning poured out and the Golden Lions were forced inside. UAPB doesn’t have an indoor practice facilty, so the Golden Lions were forced to halt practice until the inclement weather subsided.

But Coleman, UAPB’s first-year head coach and fifth-year defensive coordinator, refused to blame it on the rain.

“The weather is part of it,” the former Washington Redskin said. “If we had a game, we would have to be out in it. (The weather) is not going to hinder us. We got 100 percent when we stepped on that practice field.”

One area where the adverse conditions seemed to hinder the Golden Lions was in their final conditioning drill. Each player ran 10 100-yard sprints to end practice. While everyone finished the drill, a few groups seemed to struggle. Coleman pointed out after practice that each player was weighed down with a few extra pounds of water.

“They were heavy from the rain, but they accomplished what we wanted them to do. They ran all 10 of them,” Coleman said.

In other areas, UAPB was able to overcome the sopping-wet conditions. In their last drill of practice, the team ran live action, contact drills with the offense pitted against the defense. In their first day in shoulder pads, the Golden Lions aimed most of the hits above the waste, and pads could be heard popping throughout the stadium. After practice, Coleman called defenders Pat Sanders, Larry Jenkins and Aaron Hence for playing well. He also said the offense is starting to mature.

“The offensive side of the ball is doing some things we want them to do. The whole offensive line matured,” Coleman said. “We’re still not there. We have a long way to go, but we’ve come a long way. We’re about right where we want to be. We don’t expect to be SWAC champions today. We’re right where we want to be.”

The Golden Lions will practice today in shorts and shoulder pads. They’ll put on full pads for the first time Friday, and will have two practices in full pads Saturday before taking Sunday off.

UAPB opens the season Aug. 30 against Arkansas-Monticello at Golden Lion Stadium.

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