Rattlers wrap up first week of spring practice

San Marcos kicked off the week returning to the gridiron.

The Rattlers are coming off an 0-10 season, but you wouldn’t know it from the vibes at their second practice. Numerous big plays from the Rattler offense followed by celebratory dance moves were scattered throughout the day, on top of a boombox bumping in the background to add to the fun but focused feel.

“Our offseason always centers around our strength numbers, and Coach Wallace took over in January in that weight room. The kids responded, and the numbers went exactly where we needed them going. They went up, and the kids were stronger. There actually has been quite a bit we can take away (at practice so far) — day one, retention of our schemes was good, and we implemented quite a bit. And it was executed not bad for a first day. The defense was really sharp yesterday,” head coach John Walsh said. “They really got after us, made it hard to run the ball, and we threw okay. Today, you can tell the coaches got in the meeting rooms and did a good job on the offensive side of the ball. We ran the football pretty well, and we threw it pretty well today. So I would say defense went to day one, offense went to day two for sure. Which is what you want in spring ball, you want good competition. What I do love about what’s taking place is we’re not having to coach effort, we’re not having to coach energy. The energy is where it needs to be.”

Junior quarterback Buck Steyn and senior tight end and defensive end Kenneth Pease both ran with the ones offensively, who got in rhythm throughout the day. Pease ran multiple sets out of the backfield in h-back looks, and lined up near the line of scrimmage as a more traditional tight end. Steyn threw beautiful touch passes with precision accuracy throughout the day, connecting with his receivers on deep shots and touchdowns frequently. Steyn also busted out a 30-plus yard scramble for a score as well.

“[Practice] is going pretty good, I really like the balance in [Coach Walsh’s] system. I like to throw it, so I’d rather throw it more. But it’s a good balance. I like that we can do anything and take whatever the defense gives us,” Steyn said. “For day two [our offensive chemistry] isn’t too bad, but obviously we can get a lot better so we’ll keep working on that. I just take it day by day, [try to] get better every day and hopefully we can get things done 100% and not make too many mistakes.”

“[For the tight ends we want to] be aggressive, like we want to hit that field more intensely than anyone else. We’re definitely focused on lateral movement a lot out here, being football players, not just trying to be in the weight room the whole time. We do football plays [during the] off-season, [so we can] prepare the best we can. I just say that competition breeds success, and we’re trying to be as successful as possible,” Pease added.

The Rattlers are only a few days into their first week of spring practice, with San Marcos hitting the field four times a week over the next three weeks. San Marcos’ spring practice schedule leads up to its conclusion with the inaugural spring game on May 16 at Toyota Rattler Stadium at 6:30 p.m.

“We want to be injury free and then we just want our skill level to get better. I think our staff’s doing a great job of putting our install on and teaching, they just need to be teachable and be good learners. Then, I want to see our execution get better,” Walsh said. “It won’t be like it’s going to be in August or September. We’re allowed to work them in the summer now, so we’re going to pace it. We’re not trying to put a whole bunch on. We want to be good at our base stuff, and until our base stuff looks good, we’re not going to add anything else.”

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