Wednesday Practice: Unga still out
Preparing for Air Force is like walking into a cloud or fog on Monday; waving your arms and fighting through the soup by Tuesday and Wednesday and then seeing things clear up significantly by Thursday.
Bronco Mendenhall saw a little more daylight during Wednesday’s practice as his defense began to act faster to AFA’s option concepts presented by the scout team.
Early in the week, it didn’t look so good. Tuesday was better. On Wednesday, I saw Mendenhall do a few skips and jumps and fist pumps as his first defense made plays, got in the right gaps, started to nail down keys and play significantly better.
In the meantime, sophomore running back Harvey Unga missed practice again, getting treatment for several nagging injuries. Unga has told those close to him that he’s fine, he’ll be OK, he’s just trying to get healed up.
“We’ve made progress in terms of knowing what to do, when to do it and their concentration level,” said Mendenhall of the defensive prep.”
Kellen Fowler had an interception and reserve safety Jordan Pendleton made a nice pass break up before hitting the ground where he got up slowly. Other players were clearly acting faster in decisions and reads over previous practices.
“They have a better idea of how to defend the plays and what they’re running. But it will take until Thursday and right up until our walk through Friday night before they’ll feel ready. But in terms of regular Air Force preparation, they’re right on track,” said the coach.
Mendenhall said he has watched every Air Force game while his assistants have watched on offense and defense have watched break downs of games in which teams have done similar things that the Cougars will do.
Teams that have defended a particular AFA play well are studied and those films are archived for the Cougar staff to review and study.
“I forget how many years, both at New Mexico and here, since we’ve been in the league, we’ve defended Air Force pretty well, but while each team is different, many elements are the same.”