Mar 19th, 2007 04:12AM
by:

By STEVE EAST
UCA SID

CONWAY — The University of Central Arkansas Bears opened spring football practice on Saturday afternoon (March 17) with a lot of question marks and a lot of holes to fill.

The Bears went 8-3 and finished No. 24 in one national poll in their first season in NCAA Division I, but lost 21 seniors, including a couple of All-Americans.

While all those things as a whole might seem like a negative, they actually have Bears head coach Clint Conque looking forward to spring drills.

“We’re excited about practice this spring," said Conque, entering his eighth season at UCA. “We had a lot of enthusiasm today, the tempo of practice was good for the first day.

“The veterans for the most part retained a lot from the fall. The younger players were enthusiastic with a great attitude. It was a good building block for the next 14 practices."

Conque has to replace most of his defense and some key players on offense, particularly  at receiver and in the offensive line. The one constant from last fall is the quarterback position, with starter Nathan Brown and backup Robbie Park both returning.

“We threw and caught the ball pretty well, which is about all we had to work on being in just helmets," Conque said. “I thought Nathan and Robbie threw the ball extremely well."

The defense is where most of the rebuilding will have to take place.

“The lack of returnees was obviously noticeable today, especially on defense," Conque said. “But then again, it was kind of refreshing. They guys were working hard. That’s what we want. We’re just trying to get them lined up and playing hard right now."

Conque said most of what the coaching staff is doing right now is evaluating.

“We’re trying to identify that we have the right players in the right positions," he said. “ We have a lot of work to do, but I thought today was a positive day. We’re looking forward to getting back out there again tomorrow and getting better.’

UCA returns to the practice field at 4 p.m. Sunday, and again Tuesday and Thursday at 4.