With this month being warmer than usual, Ball State quarterback Keith Wenning couldn't wait for spring practice to start.
During March, he and a group of his receivers would get together at Scheumann Stadium to throw and run routes.
"We've been out here a lot with the nice winter weather we had," Wenning said. "It's definitely helped us to come out early and I think it only makes our receivers get better and better each day."
The weather wasn't much different for Ball State's first spring practice. The sun was out and a slight breeze came through the stadium that made it feel like the middle of October, not the last week in March.
The day had a sense of familiarity with the coaching staff and a healthy number of players returning on offense, but the mix of players that redshirted last season and transfers brought something new. Ball State coach Pete Lembo said it was too early to tell on the field which newcomers were standing out, but players such as Tennessee transfer Toney Williams and Ohio State transfer Jonathan Newsome were impressive.
"There's a lot of younger players that are now factoring into the mix," Lembo said. "It's nice to know that all those guys have a chance to compete."
New wide receivers Trey Gardner, Shane Belle and Jacolby Owens bring new targets for Wenning this spring and Dan Manick has moved from tackle to center for this season. Wenning said in just the first day he is already becoming familiar with them.
"It was a good first day, I felt comfortable," Wenning said. "I thought the new guys did pretty well. But there's always room for improvement."
Ball State returns eight of its nine coaches from a season ago as offensive line coach John Strollo left to take the same job at Penn State. In his place is Nick Tabacca who had his first practice at Ball State.
Lembo was excited about the 2004 Ball State graduate to return to the program.
"He's already a believer in what we do," Lembo said. "He's got a really good demeanor and is connected to our players in the month and a half he's been here. Of course he's a Ball State guy so he's in his element."
When Lembo took over 15 months ago everyone had a clean slate coming into spring practice. There was a question on who would be the starting quarterback in 2011. This season, however, most players on the team should know their positions on the depth chart. Wenning is the first-string quarterback and the line returns four starters from last season. The wide receivers are basically the same from a season ago and the same goes for the tight ends.
Wenning said he doesn't really think about the fact he's the starting quarterback this spring season compared to last, he just wants to get better.
"Me and Kelly [Page] are both just going out there and playing," he said. "We're just working hard and we both want to keep getting better."
Ball State will have a handful of players that will be limited this spring because of injuries suffered either last season or over the winter. One of those is running back Barrington Scott who broke his fibula while scoring a touchdown against Eastern Michigan last season. Lembo said he will be dressed for spring practice but will do some drills but will not be involved in team situational drills.
In the 11-on-11 drills, safeties Brian Jones and Chris Calloway practiced with the first team defense, but other competing safeties got reps as well. Filling the two safety spots is the glaring issue on defense this spring.
With 14 spring practices remaining, Lembo won't have to worry about starting from scratch which he said is critical for the spring. The rest of the spring season should be about getting the new players involved and filling the holes left by graduating players.
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