After a lopsided practice on Tuesday, Texas State head coach Jake Spavital got what he wanted on Thursday: a back-and-forth affair between the offense and defense.
 
With only five practices remaining in spring ball, it was important for the head coach to see a competitive response from an offensive unit that was handled by the defense earlier in the week.
 
After the even practice, Spavital and newly-named-but-familiar-name tight ends coach Boone Feldt addressed the media along with Micah Hilts, Jackson Lanam, and Tyler Huff.
 
The tight ends unit was the focus, but Feldt, a grad assistant with the team the last three seasons, is the local story for the Bobcats.
 
A high school graduate of Hays High School – located about 15 minutes from the Texas State campus – Feldt was a natural fit for the vacant tight ends coach when Brian Hamilton slid over to guide the offensive line.
 
He was not unfamiliar with the area, from his time as a GA with the Bobcats to playing up the road in high school. Even before that, he won a state championship while with Pilot Point High School at Bobcat Stadium.
 
Feldt has been around football since the day he was born. His dad is a longtime football coach, from the college to high school level. And while he was born in Boone, N.C. – his dad was a coach at App State – he is named after his mother's maiden name.
 
"I've been around football my whole life," said Feldt. "Whether it's being a ball boy. Whatever you can do to help the team. That's literally what it is. That's what my role is. Help the team. I want to win. I'm competitive."
 
For Spavital, keeping Feldt and his "do anything" mindset was an offseason priority.
 
"I couldn't afford to lose him because he has a lot of respect for this team," said Spavital. "I think the team would've been pretty disappointed if Boone took another job. So I was holding on to him for my life right there just to keep him here."
 
Here is where Feldt wants to be, though. From his extended family being in the area to friends coaching high school throughout the state, the opportunity at Texas State was one he had his eye on.
 
"This is a place I've always wanted to be," said Feldt. "To me, this is home."
 
The Bobcats feature six tight ends on the roster, five of which are holdovers from last season when the group worked with Hamilton. And while there is a new voice leading the room, the tight ends feel comfortable with someone who was already around the group in seasons prior.
 
"It's just a different energy," said Huff. "When Coach Boone came in… we were assignment-bound. Now he's kind of let the leash loose on us, given us more opportunity to different things. He's kind of like, 'You guys know what you're going to do. Just go play.'"  
 
And for Feldt, that approach is very intentional.
 
"I tell them every day: you guys are technicians," said Feldt. "Don't lose that. But I don't need to overly spend my time coaching technique on you guys. Now it's about understanding knowledge and growing their perspective."
 
Full videos of the coaches and players can be watched online at txst.com. Spavital's quotes are below.
 
Texas State head coach Jake Spavital
Opening statement…
I thought it was a very competitive practice. It went back and forth. We talked about it on Tuesday, I thought it was really lopsided. The defense just got completely after the offense. Today, I thought it went back and forth, which I wanted to see them respond. Put them in some pretty fun scenarios. We did some live situations for the first time in a midweek setting. Got competitive at times but still got a lot of quality of work in. We did some blitz periods, some substitution and open field, some new installs, and put it down and did an overtime period live on the plus-25 and went back and forth in a game we call 21 which is pretty fun game. Competitive. Overall, I like where this team is going. I was a little disappointed in the offense's performance because normally both sides have been giving it back and forth to each other and finally today it was pretty even across the board. I sit here in a good spot, but there's a lot of guys – players and coaches – in that gray area where they're … disappointed and kind of proud of how they performed. That's practice 10, we got five more to go. We strap up again on Saturday. It'll be a live scrimmage. We'll get a lot of reps in and should be a pretty good time.
 
On newly-named tight ends coach Boone Feldt…
Coach Feldt has been with us since 2019. I've had the pleasure to work with this guy. He was our graduate assistant here in 2019. I always claim myself as the greatest GA of all time but Boone might probably be right up there in terms of who he is and what he does because he's a coach's kid like myself. His dad is a legendary Texas high school coach. Boone was actually the offensive line coach at UTPB and is a very qualified person. He turned down a lot of jobs because he knew this opportunity was going to come. Right now he's with our tight ends and we talk about how we train our tight ends and o-line – they all kind of work hand-in-hand together. Boone is a tight ends coach. He's coached o-line before. Very lucky to have him and he works extremely hard at recruiting. Diving into his players. Not afraid to give opinions. You can tell he's been born to be a coach his entire life.
 
On Tyler Huff…
What a unique story. Being a guy that served his time in the Navy. He's kind of gone through some adversity, ACL tears and broken hands. He's out there healthy. We've added a dynamic of working the tight ends more. And Huff always seems to be the one getting the catches right now which I always like because he's notorious for having a first down signal after every catch that he has right now. He's a great leader. Everybody loves him. He's so locked in on everything that he does. He's bought in to everything that he does, that we do. Glad he's here. He just brings maturity and a leadership side to this game that is much needed.
 
On Micah Hilts…
Micah has been here with us since 2019 as well. Got to come here with the first group. He's got a unique story too. He's been through a lot of injuries, lot of ups and downs. The thing is he's a great leader for us. He's a vocal guy that people respect. He's put on a ton of weight since he's been here. Takes a lot of pride in it. Puts a lot of focus into this game because he truly loves playing this game. Walking in, he's a little disappointed with his performance today but I bet you it's a lot better than what I think and what he thinks once you start watching the tape. He's a competitor. He wants to be great. We focus on the little things and he does an extremely great job for us.
 
On Jackson Lanam…
He's a guy that was kind of counted out when he first got here. He's worked himself into a role that plays a significant amount of snaps. He's tough. He enjoys the game. These tight ends, they do the dirty work. They got to be able to do the finesse stuff. Go out there and run and catch balls but at the same time they got to be put on rush defensive end and they got to win those one-on-one battles. It's a very rare position, and these guys are all capable of playing it at a high level.
 
On Coach Feldt moving to tight ends coach…
When we work, our o-line, our tight ends, our o-line GAs – everyone is together. The tight ends have to be able to do pass game and run game. I've always got a guy that's going to be the next up-and-coming offensive line coach to be there. That's exactly what Coach Hamilton did and he got promoted into o-line. That's how we kind of train these guys. I know Boone can coach o-line, I know he can coach tight ends. I just wanted him to be a part of this staff. I couldn't afford to lose him because he has a lot of respect for this team. I think the team would've been pretty disappointed if Boone took another job. So I was holding on to him for my life right there just to keep him here. He's a coach's kid. He's been around this game his whole life. He's already been an offensive line coach at a college level. When a lot of people are a position coach at another school and become a graduate assistant, their roles change a little bit and he embraced it. He was just here, he knows his role. I appreciated his approach to this team. He's got a lasting impact on these kids. He's ready to coach it all. He's a film junkie. He'll watch all sorts of tape, man. And he'll bring in some cool ideas, too. He's got a really, really bright career ahead of him.
 
On the tight ends role…
We finally got a group of tight ends. You can stretch the field vertically with them. We never really got to be able to get to that point. It was a lot of checkdowns, protections type stuff. And Micah (Hilts) was the one that could do that. Over the years, if Micah came down with an injury, you wasted all that time practicing. And we finally got the depth that is needed where we can actually get quality reps at this. It's a fine line of how you practice with tight ends because they got to the edge of the run block and they also got to be able to understand spatial awareness of getting open because a lot of those tight end routes are read-routes. Where you got to find leverage and spacing and use your big body and get open. That's something I think the best offenses in the game have. If you look at the NFL, you got (Rob) Gronkowski, Jimmy Graham, all those big-time tight ends because they're so rare. That's why they're the most unique position on the field.
 
On the tight end position last season…
We didn't have much depth at that time. (COVID) knocked out the whole tight end room and we had to move over Jake Lynch from defensive end to start the SMU game. What a unique time we've been in. I think we've all learned and grown from those experiences. That's pretty difficult on these guys. Get knocked out because of COVID and then have injuries. There's a lot of dark moments for these guys. You put a lot of time – you invest a lot of time in this game to have it taken away because of an odd reason or unfortunate circumstance. When that went through, I think that room kind of grew together a little bit more. They understood how a lot of this stuff isn't guaranteed and to make the most of the opportunity that you have in the current moment. I think that's what these guys have done. I really love the room. I think they have a pretty unique bond. They're kind of the blue collar guys. They got to put the dirty work in. And they're not afraid to do it. When you go through those issues, where you have to sit out games due to COVID or injuries, they lean on each other a lot because it's already a physically-demanding game for those guys. You got to do your best to lean on the room, and I think we have a pretty close tight end group right now.