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Commodore Spring Practice Set To Open Feb. 18 1/22/2004
Commodore Spring Practice Set To Open Feb. 18 NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The Vanderbilt football team is expected to start spring drills on February 18, marking the second consecutive year that the Commodores will be the first Southeastern Conference to get underway with the 15-practice session. Commodore Head Coach Bobby Johnson also hopes to conclude Spring Practice by conducting the annual Black & Gold Scrimmage on Saturday, March 20. Only two other SEC football squads, Alabama and Auburn, are expected to open in February. Two programs, Mississippi State and South Carolina, have not announced spring dates. “I was pleased with how productive our team was last spring under a similar schedule. I am expecting us to have even more success this spring,” Johnson said. “The early start also gives a player returning from injury a little more time to be ready for the start of preseason practice this summer.” Johnson, entering his third season at the helm of Vanderbilt football, is expected to welcome 29 Commodores who started at least three games in 2003. A multiple-game starter is back at every position for the Commodores. More than 50 letterwinners from the Commodores’ 2003 season are expected to participate this spring. Among the top returning Commodores are second team All-SEC defensive end Jovan Haye, three-year offensive line starter Justin Geisinger, two-year starting quarterback Jay Cutler and linebacker Moses Osemwegie, who finished the season last year as the SEC’s second leading tackler. The Commodores, hoping to improve off a 2-10 season last year, will entertain South Carolina in early September to open the 2004 season. Besides the Gamecocks, Vanderbilt’s 11-game schedule also includes home dates against Mississippi State, Rutgers, Eastern Kentucky, Florida and Tennessee. |
