Saturday, March 22, 1997

ACU football coach preparing for spring drills

By Ted Dunnam

Assistant Sports Editor

For Jack Kiser, March Madness translates into getting as organized as possible before spring football drills begin April 7.

Unlike last year, however, the Abilene Christian University head coach will have a running start this go-round. Kiser was a first-year head coach at this time in 1996, breaking in a first-year quarterback and a revised offense.

Three weeks from now, though, Kiser will greet a team that returns the majority of its starters from a fairly successful 6-4 campaign. Kiser indicated the offense will be the focal point of the spring workouts.

"We'll probably have a little more emphasis on the passing game than we did last year," Kiser said. "At the end of the year, we felt the running game was in pretty good shape, but we need to be more efficient passing the ball.

"What we'll also emphasize is teaching some guys more than one position. We'd like for all of our receivers to know all of the passing routes for each of the positions, too.

"Where we're really ahead of last year, though, is that we'll be polishing some things as opposed to teaching them."

Practically all of ACU's starting offensive unit returns. With the addition of Texas Christian University transfer John Williams, an Odessa Permian product, an already strong running game spearheaded by David Bennett seems to have just strengthened itself.

"Most of the changes we'll make or have made are simplifications rather than adding things," Kiser said. "We just want to get very sound fundamentally. Once you get assigned and aligned, you're 90 percent there. At that point, you want to find out who will play most aggressively."

Kiser said that the biggest adjustment the Wildcats face right now is a reshuffling of the coaching staff.

"We've only got one new guy (Mike Unger), but they're all coaching new positions," Kiser said. "Mike is the offensive line guy, Chris (Thomsen) is with the defensive line, Dan Gonzalez has moved from the wide receivers to the running backs, and Craig King is going to help us with the linebackers.

"Chris' change is probably the most dramatic. We've got to make those coaching adjustments fit, and so far it's been a relatively smooth transition."

Kiser can also rest comfortably knowing that he won't have to count on incoming freshmen to help carry the load immediately.

"We're going to see how the junior college transfer guys - Warren Vital and Desmond Gant - fit in, but we're not counting on any freshmen to start," he said. "It's certainly nice that they're going to be backups. There have been some times, especially the '94 season, when we've had to rely on a ton of freshmen. We started seven on defense that year.

"But I don't foresee any freshmen starting. I haven't told any of them that they would start, and I told only one that he had a chance to start but that probably wouldn't happen until midseason if at all."

With a realigning of the Lone Star Conference, ACU will have a different schedule this year but one that Kiser finds favorable.

"I like it. First of all, we don't have to go to Kingsville," he said. "We've got seven conference games within the South Zone, and then two crossover games with the North Zone that count toward the conference championship.

"You've got two non-conference games and then nine in a row for a conference title. You've got to come out of the chute in a hurry ready to play. But I like it."

ACU didn't come out guns ablazin' last year, but eventually got rolling and ended the season with a 26-3 win over West Texas A&M.

"I guess when you play that last ballgame and win it you're supposed to carry that over into the spring," Kiser said. "But that was so long ago I don't know if the players remember it. My belief is that you take good experiences and bad experiences and build on those. That's what we'll be trying to do."