Grambling opens spring football under new coach

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

March 26, 2004

Contact: Peter Forest, Director

Athletic Media Relations
G-MEN OPEN 2004 SPRING FOOTBALL WORKOUTS UNDER MELVIN SPEARS

GRAMBLING, La. – The Grambling State football team opened their 2004 spring drills under the direction of first-year head coach Melvin Spears on Friday evening. The team worked out in shorts and shoulder pads with emphasis being placed on fundamentals.

A lot of enthusiasm was displayed during the two-hour practice. There were a number of players who could not wait for the start of spring drills which resulted in them showing up as early as 45 minutes prior to the start of practice working out among themselves. Coach Spears was very pleased with the effort that his players gave during the first day of spring drills.

"I think that we had an outstanding day today. We were very, very intense. The guys were really excited, we had a lot of guys who came out a lot earlier than anticipated. We got a lot of little bitty work done before practice started. Practice started at 6:45 p.m. and we had some guys out here on the field at 6:15 p.m. We just came out here and got right at them."

Spears also felt that the team as a whole reported to camp in tremendous shape. The coaching staff also saw a lot of promise out on the field today. "The main thing is that the guys who we are relying on came out there in great shape coming off of the strength and conditioning program," Spears said. "We saw a lot of promise in a lot of different guys although we have a few guys who are banged up, nursing the flu, hamstring injuries – but other than that, we had a pretty good day."

The team will start practice at 10 a.m. on Saturday morning with continued work on fundamentals.



Peter G. Forest, Director
Athletic Media Relations
Grambling State University
phone: 318-274-6562
fax: 318-274-2761