April 15, 2008

NORMAL, Ill. - As the talk of Tax Day swept across the country, Tuesday's practice for the Illinois State football team proved to be anything but taxing on the field, as the Redbirds glided through an hour practice without pads.

"We extended them some (Friday) with 100 plays (during the team scrimmage), and we wanted to make sure we got caught up on all that film," said head football coach Denver Johnson. "We gave them the weekend off, but I felt like we needed to come back out and work on the corrections from the film. We wanted to get them refocused, before we get padded back up (Wednesday), Thursday and again on Saturday."

The biggest personnel news of the day was Khenon Hall's return to safety. Hall began the spring as a safety, but also worked out with the cornerbacks and linebackers before returning to his original position Tuesday. Also, projected starting left tackle Chris Riley sat out practice after suffering a high ankle sprain in Friday's workout.

The practice didn't begin until 4:30 p.m., which is an hour later than the normal practice time, to account for the longer film session. Following the 12, five-minute period workout, Johnson talked about what he would like to see in Saturday's spring game and throughout the rest of the week.

"We just have our very basic offense and defense in, but I want to see us put the ball in play efficiently, get in and out of huddles on both sides of the ball, get our personnel in and out of the game efficiently and not have a lot of procedure penalties," said Johnson. "I want to see us go out there and play fast, and hopefully we can get through this week without any major injuries. If we can do that, I will feel like we will have had a successful spring."

The Redbirds will practice again Wednesday and Thursday, before taking the field Saturday at 1 p.m. for the annual Red-White Scrimmage.