Towson safety Drew Mack couldn?t wait to put on his helmet and jersey for spring practice. But the senior captain who is still recovering from a sprained ligament in his left foot will have to wait a little longer to put on the pads.
“My leg is getting there, it?s been forever, six months now,” Mack, who hoped to be in full pads today, said. “Running straight is fine for me, but once I start planting and cutting, it?s painful.”
Mack hurt his foot in the next-to-last game of the season, a 14-12 loss to Villanova. The loss was one of many close defeats the Tigers suffered during a disappointing, 3-8 season that began with dreams of a berth in the 16-team Football Championship Subdivision Playoffs.
But the 6-foot-1 185-pounder?s play in 10 games was enough to be recognized as one of the top six safeties in the Colonial Athletic Association.
Mack finished the season with 74 tackles ? five for loss ? a sack, four passes defended and an interception.
“Coming to practice and not being able to be out there with my teammates getting all hyped up?” Mack said. “I feel like I am way behind right now. I just can?t wait to get back out there and hit somebody. I got all this energy bottled up.”
If the talented defensive back wants to make a full recovery and an even bigger impact on the field this season, he will do it under first-year defensive coordinator Jeff McDonald. McDonald was hired by head coach Cordy Combs in March to take the placeof departed defensive coordinator Bob Benson, who resigned after two seasons to become the Associate Head Coach at Colorado School of Mines.
“I have been really impressed at the people here,” McDonald said. “The guys have been really receptive and are a great group of young men.”
But McDonald said not to expect a big overhaul of the defense. McDonald spent the past six years as an assistant coach at Yale, and will retain much of the same terminology and basics of Towson?s 3-4 defense.
And the Tigers have room to improve. The defense yielded 22 points and 353.1 yards per game ? ranked third and fifth-overall in the conference ? but the more troubling statistics were a meager 21 sacks and just 15 turnovers forced.
“The majority of it is the same,” McDonald said of the defense. “One thing we have really made a major emphasis is on is forcing turnovers. Every practice we start with a number. We want to emphasize it so they aren?t just being opportunistic, but they are looking for it.”
