BUFFALO, NY - University at Buffalo head football coach Jim Hofher, like most coaches, had plenty of reason for optimism and plenty of concerns after wrapping up the Bulls' spring drills this week with the annual Blue-White Scrimmage on Wednesday night.

Hofher, who was hired in December as the Bulls' 23rd head football coach, got 15 opportunities to see his squad on the field for the first time and came away enthused with the team's conditioning, growth process and ability to play hard. He also knows there is plenty of work ahead before UB opens its 2001 season on August 30th against Rutgers of the BIG EAST at UB Stadium.

"First things first," said Hofher. "We got a tremendous amount of work done to teach a whole new language and install a new offense, defense and special teams. We got a tremendous amount of work on tape in three scrimmages plus the spring game. We ran 372 live scrimmage plays and that's a lot for the coaching staff and the kids to study to help us get better."

Hofher also noted that his team came through the scrimmage-laden spring drills in good health.

"We had more guys, nine of them, that came into the spring unable to practice because of post-season surgery than we had injured during spring drills," Hofher noted. "I think that's an indication of how well the team conditioned themselves during the winter. An awful lot was done but by no means have decisions been made on personnel. The pre-season will still be important for kids to show if they've improved and/or if they can continue to play consistently like some did in the spring."

"There's definitely spots on the bus left," said Hofher, touching on one of his goals of spring practice, to figure out who would make UB's travel team this fall. "A lot of that will be determined by how hard these kids work from now until we return in August and on the incoming recruits."

Offensively, Hofher was particularly happy with his running back group but saw room for improvement in other areas.

"I think the most impressive thing that we saw on offense was running backs that really ran recklessly and hard during the course of our spring scrimmages," Hofher said. "We have to become much more consistent with our quarterbacks in all their communication - and they have the toughest job. That has to continue to get better to help our offense be more consistent. We also need more consistent play from our receivers."

Hofher would not name a starting quarterback coming out of spring and said, "the quarterbacks improved from practice No. 1 to No. 15 with understanding the schemes and the communication that is required and now have the summer to continue honing their skills at the position."

Chad Bartoszek

In terms of other offensive standouts, Hofher was impressed with the play of junior tight end Chad Bartoszek (Salamanca, NY/Salamanca). "Chad can be a good player. He's got experience under his belt, he's a big target and he's athletic."

Defensively, Hofher also saw things he liked.

"I thought Bob Dzvonick (Pittsburgh, PA/Shaler) was a guy who plays really hard and made plays during the course of the spring because of a relentless habit. Omari Jordan (Cleveland, OH/Collingwood) got better as the spring went along and I'm happy with that. I'm happy with our move of Chris Shelly (Pittsburgh, PA/Shaler) to end and I'm happy with the attitude and performance of Anthony Andriano (Howard Beach, NY/Milford Academy). I think J.J. Gibson (Amherst, NY/Sweet Home) is coming along as a good young safety and I was happy to see Craig Rohlfs (Cincinnati, OH/Moeller) overcome his shoulder problems."

"We did a good job of installing a variety of defenses so they have a much better understanding when they come back in August," said Hofher. "We tried to focus as much as we could on fundamentals and alignments and assignments and tackling. We will continue to, and always will, emphasize those things as well as pursuit."

One area that concerned Hofher was a lack of turnovers throughout the spring.

"I thought we were on the right path but we didn't cause enough turnovers," he said. "We dropped too many interceptions and we can, and we must, get better at those things."

In terms of special teams, Hofher singled out the play of snapper Kevin McCarthy (Patchogue, NY/Patchogue-Bedford) as "excellent" and said that sophomore punter/kicker Dallas Pelz (Holland, NY/St. Francis) "made some field goals under pressure for a guy who hadn't kicked PAT's or field goals in a game. He did a good job."

Of all the scrimmaging, new formations and new language, Hofher pointed to what was going on off the field as perhaps the real key to the Bulls' success this fall.

"In January we had 11 guys over 300 pounds," said Hofher. "In April we had four and by August we're likely to have two. What I'm talking about is conditioning, what I'm talking about is strength, explosion and that's where we need to make a move."

The first-year UB coach noted that the work off the field must continue now that spring drills have ended for Buffalo to reach its goals this season.

"This is the longest time period of the year in which we can make a move. A group of 25 guys on both sides of the line lost a total of 333 pounds (this spring) and we're not done yet. That as much as anything, maybe even more important than schemes, will determine how much better we are going to get. The question we have to find out as coaches is what are our guys going to do when no one's watching, particularly after classes end this semester."

The next time Hofher and his staff will have a chance to see about that is when the Bulls' newcomers report on August 3.