ULM focused on ‘finishing’ post spring practice

Todd Berry’s been busy since ULM put the finishing touches on spring practice.

He held his annual post-mortem meeting with his staff following the Maroon and Gold game, sending them out recruiting once they had their marching orders.

Berry has been on the road himself, making stops throughout Louisiana and in Texas speaking at various alumni functions.

In between dinners and speaking engagements, Berry did have time to name a new front-runner at quarterback — redshirt freshman Garrett Smith — and set the expectation for the Warhawks in 2015.

‘Finish’ was the buzzword during practice at JPS Field and in the offices inside Malone Stadium. That was a constant problem for ULM in 2014 and derailed a 3-1 start into a 4-8 season.

“During the last six games of the season we were sitting there thinking we’ve got the game won and then we don’t make the play to win the game,” Berry said. “That’s disheartening because we pride ourselves on being a fourth-quarter team and the bottom line is we have to improve in that area in order to win football games. That’s how slim the margin of victory is in this league.”

ULM lost five-of-its-last-six games by a combined 24 points, a stretch that included five-point loss at Texas A&M. When you break that down even more, the Warhawks lost four games all on last-second plays.

Berry set about addressing these issues during the spring with an added emphasis on two-minute situations and accountability within the locker room.

The year’s crop of seniors was Berry’s first full recruiting class at ULM, and outside of a few exceptions, they all came up in the program by design via a first-year redshirt.

“In our situation, you’re always going to be playing the Georgia’s and Alabama’s of the world so we at least need to be playing with redshirt seniors so at least we have some experience going in,” Berry said. “Our philosophy is always to play the best player, but we had to bite the bullet and redshirt this class or we’d never be able to.”

“Nothing against the previous classes but I’ve always been really excited about this group. It’s the first group that’s really bought in to us from an ownership standpoint and you’ve got some talent there.”

Berry cautious about offensive line

Smith’s anointment to the starting-quarterback role pre-fall camp accomplishes two things.

It’s the first step offensively in ULM’s goal to get back to a dual-threat spread offense, and it makes things easier on a still-developing offensive line.

Colby Mitchell, Jimmy Chung, Chase Regian and Frank Sutton all have starting experience, but Berry is staying guarded on any predictions for the group.

“I’m going to bite my tongue a little bit and see how things play out,” Berry said. “This is the most athletic we’ve been in that spot but every year I think we’re going to get better and better but we’ve only seem to get marginally better.”

Mitchell, a redshirt senior from Bartlesville, Oklahoma, started every game but one in 2014 at center and in the spring showed Berry the kind of ‘nastiness’ he wants to spread throughout the ranks

Including the 2015 signing class, ULM now has 15 offensive linemen on the roster, a far cry from the five Berry inherited in 2010.

High praise, higher expectations

Much is expected from ULM’s defense in the fall after finishing second in the Sun Belt in total defense and third in scoring defense in 2014.

The unit flashed signs of meeting those marks at times during spring practice, but Berry’s standards are a little higher.

“We were good against ‘power-five’ opponents but take those out and we’re seventh overall [in the Sun Belt],” Berry said. “Consistency is what we’re looking for more than anything and I think we have a chance with this group.”

Nine starters return on that side of the ball from a year ago, including four-year starters Mitch Lane at hawk safety and nose guard Gerrand Johnson, a Rayville alum.

The defense is breaking in a new pair of co-coordinators in Travis Niekamp and Adam Waugh.

“We got in the spring and things went back-and-forth at times between the offense and defense and that quite honestly that’s what we needed to happen,” Berry said.

“Generally that’s the sign of a balanced and pretty committed team.”

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