BILLINGS HAPPY WITH INDIANS' PROGRESS

Roughly halfway through spring practice, Southeast Missouri State University football coach Tim Billings likes what he has seen so far from his first Indians squad.

While acknowledging that it will take some time much longer than the 15 official practice sessions allowed by the NCAA during the spring for the Indians to learn everything the new coaching staff is throwing at them, Billings is nonetheless satisfied.

"We're getting a lot accomplished and we're getting better," said Billings. "We're putting in a new offense and defense, we've got new coaching techniques and personalities. We're basically starting from scratch, so it's going to take some time.

"But I think things are going well and the kids are picking things up well. We're a lot better now than we were the first couple of practices. We just have to continue to work hard and accomplish as much as we can this spring."

The Indians, who scrimmaged Saturday, have put in seven of their allotted 15 practices. They'll have seven more official workouts leading up to the spring scrimmage on April 15.

While Billings' defense is fairly similar to what the Indians have utilized in the past, the offense is quite a bit different as Southeast will feature primarily a one-back look in an attempt to spread the defense out as much as possible.

"We've got a lot more to learn with our offense, but we're getting better," Billings said. "Our quarterbacks are all doing well. They're picking it up pretty well."

Billings has said all along that one of his primary coaching philosophies is to put as much speed on the field as possible, particularly defensively. Toward that end, he has said he and his staff will likely move some players to different positions and that has been the case so far.

"We've moved at least 10 players to different positions," said Billings. "Speed kills and we want to get our fastest players on the field."

One of the coaching staff's primary goals this spring is to evaluate the talent it has.

"Right now, we're just evaluating what we have, trying to determine our strengths and weaknesses, trying to put players in the right spots and find out what we need to work on in the fall," Billings said.

Billings said he has been elated with the players' attitudes in working with and adjusting to a brand new coaching staff.

"Their attitudes have been fantastic," he said. "They've worked hard and done a good job."

Billings emphasized that all Southeast spring practices, which are held on the fields near the Rosengarten Athletic Complex, are open to the public and he encourages Indian fans to attend.

Practices are generally held, weather permitting, each Monday, Wednesday and Friday afternoon, with a scrimmage on Saturday.