The Flames’ spring practice schedule has finished as Coach Gill now turns his attention to recruiting as offseason preparation for the 2017 football season continues. Here’s a few takeaways from the end of the spring football season:

  1. Coach Gill named his captains for the 2017 season recently. Michael Henderman (RSr, OL), Trey Turner (RSr, P), Solomon McGinty (Sr, LB), and Jeremy Peters (Jr, CB) will be the team’s leaders for 2017. McGinty is the only returning captain from a season ago. Henderman only played in 2 games in 2016 as he suffered a back injury.
  2. Coach Gill said that he thought the team improved a lot on the defensive of the ball, but he did note that the number of injuries on both sides of the ball played an impact. Due to the number of injuries, the coaching staff was able to play guys at a lot of different positions and get the team a lot of reps.
  3. On offense, Gill said the main emphasis during the spring was getting the team to go faster and getting the plays in quicker. He felt like the team made a lot of improvement in that area this spring.
  4. Gill says that he expects the special teams to be a weapon for his football team in  the fall. “I thought (Special Teams Coordinator) Scott Downing did a terrific job. No question, (special teams) should be a strong point of our football team as far as we’ve got a lot of veterans that have done (their job) quite a bit. We feel so blessed to have (kicker Alex Probert). He does a great job of being consistent with his kick. We always talk about from the 30-47 yard range, hopefully we can be in the 80% range. That’s a challenge, but we think he’s capable of doing that. Every now and then you can get something over 50 and that’s a bonus, but in that 30-47 range, you’ve got to have some consistency. We’re still trying to figure out what we want to do at holder. Trey Turner has been there some, so has Spence Jones…We feel that, no doubt, special teams should be very strong.”
  5. Gill highlighted the wide receivers as a position group that he felt improved the most during the spring. “I thought they did some good things. 2 or 3 guys really improved. Antonio Gandy-Golden really improved. Cephas Reddick, a name you haven’t necessarily heard of, he definitely did a lot of great things. Kyle DeArmon, our new wide receivers coach, did a tremendous job.”
  6. When asked about incoming transfers, Gill said Iowa State transfer Seth Nerness was the only guy he could comment on at this time. As we reported on Friday, the Flames picked up 3 junior college transfers, Solomon Ajayi, Kedrick Bradley, and Charles “Trey” Franklin. Ajayi is the brother of Miami Dolphins running back Jay Ajayi. “We’re still pretty active trying to get a few more people in, as far as junior college kids, as we move forward,” Gill commented.
  7. When asked about player attrition this offseason, Gill said, “I don’t anticipate a whole lot of things happening, but I’ve been in this business long enough you never know what an 18-22 year old may do or what they may go about doing their business.”
  8. Will the Flames redshirt any contributors in 2017 in anticipation of the team’s move to the FBS ranks? “If it’s going to be some, I don’t see it being a large number at all. I don’t know what that number is, but I don’t see myself doing it in a large way, saying we’re going to redshirt 15 guys, or 10, or anything of that nature. So, I’m not going to say it’s not going to happen, but I can definitely say that it’s not going to be any big number…We’re right now going to enjoy 2017, get ready to play that for our fans and have a great year.”