Georgia State’s football team will look to build momentum on last year’s bowl season when it starts spring practice on Thursday.
Coach Trent Miles’ squad went 6-7 last season and returns 17 starters, making it one of the more experienced teams in the Sun Belt Conference.
Miles wants to see a few things that most coaches want to see during the next 15 practices: maintaining health and improving player development, which is football-speak for every coach and player getting better at what they do.
“We’ve seen it in the weight room, now we will see it on the football field,” Miles said.
Of course, there are more things that Miles needs to see that are specific to his team.
The first is finding a quarterback.
The second is settling on rotations at the offensive line.
The line returns four players who made starts last season – Sebastian Willer, Alex Stoehr, Michael Ivory and Gabe Mobley — and several key backup who have shown potential.
What it doesn’t return is a great sense of confidence.
While the Panthers set several single-season records on offense last year, the line still had trouble protecting its quarterbacks (33 sacks) and opening up holes for the running game (3.1 yards per carry; 96.9 per game).
Miles said that some of players looked “extremely good” coming out of winter conditioning.
Dom Roldan, who will work out at tackle and guard, has lost 63 pounds since he enrolled according to Miles and now weighs 300 pounds. Tyler Simonsen, a guard, has also slimmed down. Stoehr is down to 290 and moving well.
Additionally, Hunter Atkinson is moving from tight end to tackle.
