AFA football players hard to round up during summer

AFA football players hard to round up during summer

July 10, 2008 - 4:34PM

Air Force senior quarterback Shea Smith surveyed the players around him and knew he had to call an audible.

"Sai," he said, turning to sophomore tailback Savier Stephens. "You mind playing some cornerback?"

It was Tuesday afternoon on the practice fields behind the Falcon Athletic Center, and a group of Air Force football players had gathered to run seven-on-seven passing drills.
One problem: They had only 11 players.

While most big-time Division I programs have nearly all their scholarship players on campus throughout the offseason, Air Force players are spread out across the globe during the three three-week periods that divide the academy summer.

So on Tuesday, like a bunch of kids at a park using "ghost runners" to make a baseball game work, the Falcons improvised. Stephens lined up at cornerback. Sophomore backup quarterback Will McAngus lined up at receiver. Senior tight end Keith Madsen, when he wasn't at his normal position, snapped the ball to Smith or junior quarterback Eric Herbort. And just one half of the field was used at a time.

"We make it work," Madsen said.
And things are a lot easier now with both Smith and Herbort - the leading candidates to replace graduated four-year starting quarterback Shaun Carney - at the academy. During the first period of summer, there were no quarterbacks at the academy, so seven-on-sevens were just about impossible.

"We're different from anywhere else," Air Force coach Troy Calhoun said. "Anywhere else you have them there all summer and they're doing all their workouts and all their skill development and they're watching tape. Where at our place ... they're all over the world right now."Cadets get one period of leave each summer and spend the other two periods in a variety of ways. Most report to an Air Force base for at least one period. Some go through flight training. And some spend one or more periods on campus working basic training or taking a class.

But even those on campus have widely varied schedules. Strength and conditioning coach Matt McGettigan runs morning and afternoon conditioning sessions four days a week, and some players stationed on campus can't make either. Senior tackle Keith Williams, for instance, began his lifting and movement workout Tuesday evening by himself when the afternoon group was almost finished.