Football: Spoo announces changes
Scott Richey/Sports Editor
Issue date: 12/10/08 Section: Sports
|
Eastern head football coach Bob Spoo started his postseason meeting with media members by saying there would be no revelations about Panthers' football.
Spoo will return next season for his 22nd at the helm of Eastern's football program, and he said he expected all of his assistants to return next season as well.
Then Spoo said Eastern had to start doing things it did not do last season.
"We've got to sit down as a staff and review this past season," Spoo said about the period after recruiting ends this coming February. "We've got to analyze what we did, how we did it, who we did it with (and) what changes we need to make."
The biggest change will be on the offensive side of the ball, as Spoo made his intentions clear to try the spread offense.
Spoo made a similar declaration in February when this year's freshman class was announced on National Signing Day.
Eastern did run some multiple-receiver formations this season, but stuck more closely to its typical pro-style formation.
The change to the spread offense for next season could be precipitated by a change in the Panthers' starting quarterback.
"It's not a knock on Bodie Reeder," Spoo said. "Bodie has given us everything he's had, but he's given us kind of a one-dimensional approach. I think you've got to have a two-dimensional quarterback these days. The teams that we lost to were teams that had that type of guy. If it's not Bodie, we've got to look at our depth."
Spoo said Eastern could turn to freshman quarterback Doug Reynolds, who was red-shirted during the 2008 season.
He said Reynolds' skills offer the Panthers a chance to move to the spread because he is a bigger, stronger quarterback who ran the spread offense and option football in high school.
"I think there's going to be some changes in how we attack people, and I think it's going to give us a better chance to succeed," Spoo said.
Spoo said the Panthers' coaching staff considered using Reynolds this past season after Eastern's first four or five games, but he said he would rather bring back Reynolds for four years instead of three. The red-shirt year was instead maintained.
"We weren't quite prepared to install an offense conducive to his talents at that point," Spoo said. "It was better that we red-shirted him, and now we can focus our attention once recruiting is over to those things that he does well which includes the spread offense and option football. I think those are things that he'll be able to provide for us."
Spoo said Reynolds is a capable runner from the quarterback position, and he said that type of quarterback was the one that hurt the Panthers this season.
He said Eastern has to find that type of quarterback, and it could conceivably be Reynolds.
But Spoo said the Panthers' coaches are also considering bringing in a transfer quarterback to compete for the starting job.
Either way, red-shirt freshmen quarterbacks Luke Hockaday and D.J. Brown don't have a definitive future at Eastern.
"Luke is in a position to make some decisions of his own, and we'll see what happens when we discuss the possibilities with him," Spoo said.
Brown's future is a little clearer.
"D.J. will not be a quarterback for us," Spoo said. "That's a given. He might be a guy that can switch positions because he played wide receiver in high school. That's a spot that we'll try to develop his talents there and see if that works out better for him, but it will not be at the quarterback spot."
Scott Richey can be reached at 581-7944 or at srrichey@eiu.edu.
The Daily Eastern News encourages on-topic, civil discussion on its articles posted online. It is our policy not to screen comments before they are posted or edit them after they are posted. However, we reserve the right to remove comments that are off-topic, malicious, libelous or include excessive foul language. The DEN also reserves the right to turn off all comments on any story it deems necessary.
Comments violating copyright law will also be removed.
Users who repeatedly violate this policy will be banned from commenting.
If you have any questions on our comment policy or wish to report a comment that you feel violates these standards, please e-mail a link to the article to our Online Editor at DENNews.com@gmail.com.
Be the first to comment on this story