AMHERST — Tyler Lytle added a gray hoodie to his practice ensemble Thursday.
The UMass quarterback hasn’t been able to put a helmet or pads on and participate in more than a week after injuring his groin last week, but has still encouraged teammates from the sideline in his black No. 5 jersey, maroon pants and cleats. But UMass coach Walt Bell said the grad transfer from Colorado will be “back very soon” after Thursday’s practice.
“He’s fine. He’s improving. He’ll be great,” Bell added.
Defensive back Noah Boykin is also on the mend. He’s been out recently with a broken finger but is still directing his teammates from the sideline or behind the end zone in goal line drills.
“He has a couple more days of precautionary stuff to make sure it heals right and he’ll be back there rolling,” Bell said.
Though neither player has participated in physical repetitions while they’ve been out, both remained engaged with the drills, their teammates and preparing for the season.
“Tyler has done a great job managing this smaller break, to no fault of his own, but he’s done a great job real invested mentally,” Bell said. “Noah has done the same. Noah has done a great job being a really good teammate. We’ll get those guys back healthy really soon.”
‘HEAVY MENTAL’ – The Minutemen were back in just helmets rather than full pads Thursday, as the NCAA limits the number of fully padded practices a team can have in fall camp. That transition forced the players to drill down to more fundamentals and mental preparation.
“Unbelievable amount of situational work. Trying to get ahead of some things for the season prep, situationally. Good day for the offense. Defense we’ve got to improve, got to be a little bit better,” Bell said. “Big, heavy mental day.”
Tangible adjustments and work included having strong inside hands, initiating contact, stepping well and improving the base.
“There’s always technique and fundamental work to do,” Bell said. “Even when we’re not in full pads, there are things we can be mindful of and improve on every day.”
Junior offensive lineman Dalton Tomlinson finds value in building the base outside the pads and taking the knowledge gained into live contact.
“When the physical work goes down, the mental work goes up,” he said. “It’s a huge mental day for us. It’s stuff that we can help execute so when pads come back on we’ll be able to execute better.”
CHANGE OF SCENERY –The Minutemen practiced on the turf field adjacent to the parking lot rather than in McGuirk Alumni Stadium on Thursday.
“They potentially could have some stuff going on in there with move-in and other things, so we wanted to go ahead and get a head start, get over here,” Bell said. “Also, yes it is a nice little change of scenery and the turf is in better shape.”
Rain poured on the squad for its first five periods of work before the sun came out.
“Which is not what we expected, we expected a downpour all day,” Bell said.
Kyle Grabowski can be reached at kgrabowski@gazettenet.com. Follow him on Twitter
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