Coach: Greyhound football making progress

PORTALES — Progress has been good and steady for Eastern New Mexico during its spring football practices, as the annual Green and Silver Game nears. Between an overachieving offensive line and a new defense, second-year Greyhounds coach Kelley Lee has been pleased with his team's efforts thus far.

"We've had a lot of growth. I feel like we've gotten better every single day," Lee said. "We've got a lot of young guys getting their first serious action, and I'm really pleased with their growth."

In particular, an offensive line seen as short on depth has really stepped things up for the Hounds. ENMU had to replace a trio of First Team All-Lone Star Conference linemen, and yet, the group has managed to stand out.

One player who's especially benefited from the line's progress is quarterback Wyatt Strand. Strand, who heads into his third year as the team's starter, is playing the best football of his career, according to Lee.

"He's such a smart kid. Third year in our offense, he's really got it down. He can basically call the game," Lee explained. "So, he can get us in and out of good plays, check in. If I call a bad play, he can put us into a good play. He doesn't force too many balls, he doesn't force bad reads, he understands. Just a good grasp of everything."

As for Strand, he added, "I feel like a veteran out here. I got some younger guys out here, so I can kinda coach them up a little bit and help them with their progress. I feel really comfortable - everything's just coming a lot slower and I feel super comfortable out there."

Defensively, the big talk this spring has been about installing a new defense, as former Greyhound player and coach Mike Walton returns. Walton is the third defensive coordinator in as many years for ENMU, and along with that, the Greyhounds will switch to a 4-2-5 defensive scheme.

Lee and company are keeping their eyes on the secondary, especially safety. After using three DBs last year, five will have to play in the new scheme. Returnees such as Todd Countee and Dante Urrea lead a group that includes promising talents like Dion Page, along with redshirt freshmen Ennis Thompson and Tyreick Branch.

"It's been a good — but slow, start," Urrea, who started all last year as a freshman, said. "This is our third DC in my third year here. So having to adjust with all the new techniques and everything that comes with the job."

Urrea went on to say that ENMU is looking for younger guys to step up into leadership roles in some areas, while the scheme itself will feature Urrea as more of an in-the-box safety, as stopping the run will be his biggest responsibility.

And while progress has been a bit slow, Urrea says that's mainly because of the installation of a new defense. "Just the mentality is completely different, more run-fitted, gotta be more aggressive players as defensive backs, now that we have more defensive backs and the linebackers gotta be more mobile," Urrea explained.

"It's fun, it's challenging, but I feel like we're headed in the right direction. I know we have the athletic ability and the mindset to do it. It's just staying persistent and believing in our ourselves and know that we can follow through with what (Walton) wants us to do."

Eastern is just over a week away from next Friday night's spring game. Until then, the Greyhounds will continue to install more packages and more plays, but the main buzz word is improvement.

"We want to stay healthy. We've been really healthy this spring, we want to continue that trend. That's learning how to practice and being smart," Lee said. "But we just want to get better every day. If we continue to do that, at the end of the 15 days, we're gonna be a good football team."