The Sacramento State football team has begun its spring schedule with a series of practices and scrimmages in preparation for the fall season starting in August.

Though the official start of the 2011 season is not for another couple of months, first year linebacker coach Andy Avalos is making sure that his players have the proper mindset when the football season rolls around.

“We’re just working on being disciplined,” Avalos said. “Football players learn to play with their eyes and their feet, make physical and proper contact, and just fly around and set the tone.”

Since the team’s first practice on March 30, linebacker Jeff Badger is hoping they will be able to limit their mistakes in order to bring about a successful season for the Hornets.

“Practice is always good, but there are always going to be mistakes,” Badger said. “We just have to see where to go from there, and then we can go correct those mistakes and get better from there.”

The Hornets held their first scrimmage on Saturday, with both the offense and defense testing each other on the field in hopes of progressing each other’s skills.

First year fullback coach Bush Hamdan said the first scrimmage of the year brought about the best in the players, and also showed who has the most to contribute to the team.

“I think anytime you’re in a practice situation, you kind of get an idea of who’s making plays and who’s stepping up,” Hamdan said. “Once you go into a live situation, guys start to separate themselves a little bit and, though there’s going to be a lot of things running through their head, I would just like to see these guys play fast and do their best out there.”

Fullback Reese Heaslet wants to not only elevate his play for the scrimmages, but he also wants to continue to develop his skills as the spring season goes on.

“It’s just the first scrimmage and this is the first time we’ll get to really evaluate ourselves,” Heaslet said. “I feel good, but I want to improve a lot from this scrimmage, to the last scrimmage that we have.”

Though it is early in the year, there are certain things that the team will need to overcome in order to play at their best, Avalos said.

“We’re a little bit young at certain positions, as is always, in spring ball,” Avalos said. “Obviously, every spring is going to be little bit of a weakness because we have guys learning the system, learning the defenses, learning the techniques and the assignments.”

The team’s youth on both sides of the ball may have contributed to some of the inconsistencies that Heaslet has noticed during some of the practices.

“We are just not consistent enough,” Heaslet said. “We’ll do good on one play, and everyone will be hyped up, and then maybe we’ll have a lapse and not be as consistent on the next play.”

However, Heaslet mentioned that the team’s lack of consistency on both sides of the ball is something they not only can work on, but also eventually overcome before the start of the season.

“I think that it is just a matter of concentration because sometimes people get tired toward the end of practice and mentally, we won’t all be there and make a mental mistake which leads to physical mistakes too,” Heaslet said. “We just have to stay locked in mentally throughout the whole thing.”

Early on in the season, there are certain attributes that the Hornets have shown during the practices that they can use to develop their talents on the field.

“The great positive that our team has, I think, is that we have some good leadership,” Avalos said. “We have some guys that are taking care of guys in the specific groups and also helping those guys come along. When you have that kind of leadership in each group, it’s just going to help us even progress faster.”

Another aspect the team has going for it, Hamdan said, is the willingness to get better and mature on the field.

“This is just a great group of guys who come out every day with a willingness to get better,” Hamdan said. “They also have a willingness to take in new coaching and to work with me as a new staff member here, and I’m just really excited with what they have to bring.”

The team’s cohesiveness as a unit is another thing that they can work on in building towards a successful season.

“As a team, we’re really close knit,” Heaslet said. “Everybody is my brother on this team, and we understand how to practice and we would do anything for each other.”

You can reach Anthony Honrade at [email protected]