Hobbs spring football: Transition to spread, QB routine, new uniforms

Clayton Jones/News-Sun

Hobbs' Donavon Fierro catches a pass during

the Eagles' spring practice Wednesday.

  The second day of Hobbs' spring football one-hour practices mainly focused on working on the short passing game – and by short I mean screens (with both wide receivers and running backs) and shovel passes as the Eagles transition to first-year coach Charles Gleghorn's pass-heavy spread offense.
  It's a dramatic transformation for Hobbs adjusting to this passing attack. Remember, Hobbs was a wing-T based, ground-and-pound offense the last three seasons (accounting for two of the top three rushing totals in program history).
  Last season the Eagles were 37-for-112 passing as a team for 420 yards in 10 games. Over the last three seasons, the Eagles have completed 81 passes for 1,319 yards.

  In contrast, Gleghorn’s Mesilla Valley Christian team last season was 211-for-336 for 3,426 yards through its first 10 games before going on to win the state title.

  It's going to take time for Hobbs to develop, but the enthusiasm for the new offense is off the charts with the players and fans I've talked to.

QB routine

  While I didn't get this in my story for Thursday's News-Sun, I found it interesting how Gleghorn practices his quarterbacks during the season and how they warm up.

  In season, Gleghorn told me they treat their quarterbacks much like pitchers in baseball preparing for a start. Mondays they work on screens and short passes, Tuesdays they throw medium, Wednesday they throw long and Thursday they don't throw much with a game coming on Friday.

  When it comes to warming up quarterbacks, they don't stretch. Gleghorn said former New Mexico State coach Hal Mumme told him his quarterbacks don't stretch – they warm up by throwing short, 5-yard routes to their receivers and slowly lengthen out. The thought is teenagers usually don't take the time to stretch properly, so just doing the short throwing drills kills two birds with one stone – it works on their fundamentals while also loosening their muscles and joints.

Hobbs to sports new uniforms

  I also learned Wednesday the Eagles will have a new look when hitting the field this upcoming season.

  Hobbs will sport white helmets with black facemasks (they didn't have the logo on the helmet I saw so I'm not sure if it's the same one as last season). The Eagles have had black helmets for a long time. Heck, I don't know if Hobbs has ever had white helmets. I may have to do a little research.

  The Eagles will also have new uniforms that have a bit of a University of Oregon look to them with eagle wings on the shoulder pads (I only saw a digital version of it and it was a quick glimpse). Hobbs will have a black jersey with gold letters and trimming and a white jersey with black and gold letters and trimming. Very modern. 

  The Eagles conclude their three-day spring practice session 7:30 p.m. today at Watson Stadium. The practice is open to the public and free to attend.