ELON, N.C. -- The Elon football team continued its spring practices on Thursday as the Phoenix completed the second of 15 workouts on the Hunt and Tucker practice fields.

The maroon and gold practiced without pads again and went 23 periods working in position groups, team units and on special teams during the warm morning.

Elon will put on shoulder pads for its next practice which will be at 6 p.m. on Friday evening.

Here are a few thoughts from coach Jason Swepson on practice number two:

Swepson on the team adjusting to morning practices: "We started a little early again today.  The guys are adjusting well to the morning practices.  We had a better practice today than we did on Tuesday.  The next few days are going to tell a lot about their toughness and mental strength."

Swepson on the defense: "The defense has been sharp.  The terminology, they're spitting out the calls a lot sooner than last year.  It's a lot more technique teaching than play teaching like it was a year ago."

Swepson on the wide receivers:  "We're going to do some things with those inside receivers.  We'll have them line up at running back.  We may dabble in the wildcat a little.  Jeremy Peterson, Kierre Brown and Andre Davis, we're going to do a lot of things with them."

Swepson on the offensive line and position changes: "We had some offensive linemen out the first practice.  It was good to see Austin Sowell back out there today.  Sowell is the anchor of that offensive line.  When he's in there, the whole offense feels better.  We moved Tevin James from defensive tackle to offensive tackle.  On defense, Blake Thompson is feeling comfortable at linebacker.  He had an interception today.  We're happy with the two position changes we made."

Swepson on what he wants to see when the team puts on shoulder pads on Friday: "I want to see the pad level be nice and low.  We'll do some combo drills - o-line/d-line, linebacker/tight end, linebacker/running back.  I'm looking to see if we still have that same physical mentality that we did at the end of last year.  I'm anxious to see some of the guys step up and play a little physical.  We'll just get the shoulders popping on Friday night."

2012 Elon Phoenix Spring Football Practice Upcoming Schedule
Friday, March 30th – 6:00 p.m.
Sunday, April 1st – 11:30 a.m.
Tuesday, April 3rd – 7:35 a.m.
Thursday, April 5th – 7:35 a.m.
Tuesday, April 10th – 7:35 a.m.
Thursday, April 12th – 7:35 a.m.
Saturday, April 14th – 3:30 p.m. (Rhodes Stadium)
Tuesday, April 17th – 7:35 a.m.
Thursday, April 19th – 7:35 a.m.
Saturday, April 21st – 2:30 p.m. (Rhodes Stadium)
Tuesday, April 24th – 7:35 a.m.
Thursday, April 26th – 7:35 a.m.
Saturday, April 28th – 1:00 p.m. (Spring Game – Rhodes Stadium)