Wednesday Spring Practice: Bears' Defense Looks Strong
The Bears took the field for their second spring workout Wednesday, a session conducted in both light showers and some sunshine in the later stages.
Once again, the quarterbacks drew much of the interest, with the four candidates sharing the reps. I won’t pretend that I watched every play of the full team drills, but I saw most of them and the defense seemed to have the edge. A lot of balls hit the ground,. and redshirt freshman Isaiah Humphries, the transfer from Penn State, had the first interception of the spring on a tipped ball.
Offensive coordinator Beau Baldwin met with the media for the first time since the staff was shuffled and he took over as the quarterbacks position coach.
“I think it more than anything it was just something where at times when Coach Wilcox felt something wasn’t what it needed to be, something was a little off,” Baldwin said, explaining the move. “It doesn’t mean it was any one of us … What it means is that at the end of the day when you are calling plays and coaching the guy that catches the snap, sometimes there comes a little bit more of a connection. We talked about it as a staff and we going forward.
“It doesn’t make what I’m doing better than Coach Tui (Marques Tuiasosopo) or anybody else in the country for that matter. It just means I am calling the plays and talking to the guy who’s taking the snaps.”
Speaking of the guys taking the snaps, Baldwin likes what he sees so far.
“They have shown great retention,” he said. “I am speaking of (Chase) Garbers with that. He is the one guy coming back with some experience. Robby (Rowell) spent a lot of time on scouts and he has shown some things from where he was in the Fall. Devon (Modster) has shown an ability to pick it up quick. You can tell that he’s been seasoned and coached. And Jack (Newman) is working to get better every day. He is probably the least familiar because he’s the newest here. Devon has a history in the conference and coach Tui coaching him, so there is some carryover there. Jack’s coming along every day, too.”
All the running backs had their moments, and Baldwin had good words for the group. He was asked what he liked most about it.
“Diversity in terms of different things they can do,” he said. “There’s a good mix of explosion speed, power, catching the ball out of the backfield. There is a lot of different things they give us. That is going to be a great competitive group as well. I’m excited with what I’m seeing from the whole group.”
LB Nick Alftin: