By Bob Nuse, Sports Editor
While the first game of the season is still months away, Bob Surace finds something special about spring practice.
“It is such a great time of the year from an individual standpoint,” said Surace, who will be entering his seventh season as Princeton University’s head coach. “There is such a focus on development with the young kids. And schematically if want to experiment with something you can without the repercussion of losing a football game. If it doesn’t work you throw it away.
“So for so many reasons it is a great time of the year for us. And for the young guys who played JV last it is their chance after a strong off-season to show us how they have developed.”
Princeton recently completed the 12 spring practices it is allowed under NCAA rules. Now the players go back into off-season workout mode until full practices begin again in late August.
“The thing you notice a lot of is the young linemen and linebackers and how much their bodies change,” Surace said. “They are 18- and 19-year-olds and they have just had an off-season of strength and conditioning that is so valuable. They go from being young looking guys who are 17 or 18 and don’t even look like they have to shave to having much different look in the spring.”
Princeton is coming off its second straight 5-5 season and will be looking to improve on that this season. The Tigers will open the season Sept. 17 at home against Lafayette.
There will be some holes to fill when the season opens, but there will also be a large number of experienced players returning. The time the staff spends with the players during spring practice is a chance to work on whatever is needed depending on the individual.
“Guys like Doran (Williams) and Rohan (Hylton), for them it is about trying to see if they can take the next step from All-Ivy to All-American,” Surace said. “At the same time we have guys who are going to need to step in and try to take a spot that is open. We have guys along the offensive line that will be battling for a position. So you have different ways different guys approach the spring practice.”
With spring practice concluded, the players will be on their own to continue to work and improve.
“They will typically do captains practices once or twice a week,” Surace said. “If the weather is nice they’ll throw and catch for the skill guys. They’ll spend the next month in the weight room and use this time to improve. We talk about February being a power month. We’ll also use April to mid-May as another power month.
Several of the Tigers who are graduating have been working out to try to play at the next level. Three members of last year’s squad — Seth DeValve, Anthony Gaffney and Dre Nelson — joined 2015 grads Matt Costello and Mike Zeuli for Princeton Football Pro Day, where DeValve certainly made scouts take notice.
“Seth’s testing numbers stood out across the board compared to the tight ends at the NFL combine,” Surace said. “He had best the jumps, shuttle run, and 60-yard dash and second best 40 and third best bench press across the board. He only played a game and a half last year healthy and was terrific. He suffered an injury and came back and played at 60 percent. The toughness the people who saw him play saw in him was jaw dropping.
“I think the NFL teams doing their homework know he is legit. We had a couple other guys to well and they are in a mix to hopefully get an opportunity.”
