While the Winona Tigers haven’t had their entire football team present, that doesn’t mean that they haven’t been getting anything accomplished this spring.
The Tigers have already practiced seven days and hope to get three more in this week.
“We have been out seven days but haven’t had baseball or track yet,” Tompkins said. “They both just got done last week and will try to get them out this week. We have got a lot of stuff done. Spring is what it is. I think the biggest thing for us is we have had all but one offensive lineman and have had two quarterbacks out there.
Tompkins said the Tigers won’t participate in a spring game this season and have only done one in his seven years at Winona and that was his first there.
“I think a lot of time you get a misconception of what you can and can’t do in the spring,” Tompkins said. “I think the disadvantages outweigh the advantages. And most of your major injuries happen during the game. And if you play somebody, you are going to focus on things like a game plan that don’t necessarily get you any better.”
While the Tigers may not be preparing for an opponent, they are preparing for a full schedule ahead of them next year.
“We try to get a lot of fundamental things in and try to put our offense in to the guys who aren’t used to playing,” Tompkins said. “If you rush into that, you leave a lot of stuff out that needs to be gone over. We don’t go very long, about an hour and a half and it’s real laid back because you don’t have everybody. It’s the spring so you have people going in every different direction. I don’t make those baseball and track kids come out because that’s not fair to those kids or the other coaches.”
One thing the Tigers don’t have trouble with are numbers. Tompkins said he had 75 players on his roster and expects to enter the fall with around 70 players.
“I suspect we will have about 70 players out when we get to the fall,” Tompkins said. “We have about 75 on the roster right now, and I’m sure we will lose some of those this summer. But most of them are skill positions. If I can find four or five defensive lineman, that will be four or five kids playing in three spots up front. I think it’s a lot easier to adjust to what we see with the spread offenses with the three-man front.”
Because he has a glut of skill players, Tompkins said the summer will be as important as ever.
“I think summer is going to be very important for us,” Tompkins said. “We have got 30 days of working and it’s going to be important for the growth of our kids. It’s going to be really important for our skill kids. I think we have a lot of key cogs of the wheel, we just have to put them together. I think the biggest thing for us is we need to mature on the offensive line.”
One things Winona and many other schools will get to do will be 7-on-7.
“I’ve got 10 dates schedule right now in the month of June,” Tompkins said. “We will do a lot of that this summer. A lot of coaches don’t like it and I don’t really like it because it’s not a physical thing. But I do think it helps the quarterbacks, receivers and defensive backs. It gives them a chance to compete and a chance to get better at those things.”
