University of Massachusets Athletics
Jason Hatchell's Spring Football Blog: Entry No. 2
April 05, 2007 | Football
April 5, 2007
Check out the second entry of Jason Hatchell's weekly CAA Football Blog. This week he writes about the start of spring practices on Saturday. Hatchell gives some insight on players to watch this spring.
I'm really excited that spring ball is here. Spring ball is a good time. You showcase your talent to a lot of guys. It's going to be awesome just to see how we click this year from last year. Last year we had a good team, we went to the national championship. This year, we got some core guys back. It's a real exciting time to see who is going to step up and how everyone is going to mesh together. It's a sneak preview on how next year's team is going to be.
Our main focus of spring football is to see who is going to compete for a starting job. In spring ball, it's all competition. There are no starters, it's all competition. Everyone comes in at an even playing level no matter what you did in the past. Everyone's going to be out there working their butts off trying to earn a starting position. That's the main focus, to showcase yourself. The goals are to get the first group on offense and defense clicking. So when we hit camp in August, we'll be full flow. We'll be in competition, but have an idea on what guys we want in what places and get everything clicking.
There are a few guys that I'm looking forward to stepping up this spring. Running backs Matt Lawrence and Tony Nelson are two guys that I'm expecting to step up. They had a great off-season in the weight room running. They are two great athletes, breaking all sorts of records. We're going to have great competition there. We're going to have a really good backfield: a good one-two punch. On the other side of the ball, I'm excited for Jeromy Miles; he's a transfer from Navy. I'm really excited to see him play on the field; he's a really good athlete. I haven't seen him play with pads on yet.
Heading into my senior season, I am looking forward to being out there with the guys and being a leader. We had great leaders last year. That's one thing I'm looking forward to doing, leading this specific group of guys. It's a cool thing when you're a senior and people look at you for leadership. You take a little more pride, because you always talk about living right and doing things right. A lot comes from the players, not just the coaches. You're influencing younger guys to live right. Everything you do influences the younger guys. That's a big thing about being a senior. Team wise, our goal is to win the CAA and win the National Championship.
Most of my family and friends have seen the blog. I've been getting calls out of the blue. Everyone's keeping up to date and they're excited for the next season.
