Photo courtesy of VMI

VMI head football coach Sparky Woods works with his team.

LEXINGTON -- Among the many lessons he has learned since coming to the Virginia Military Institute, Andy Viola has discovered how to adapt.

He was recruited by Cal McCombs as a fullback. McCombs was fired after the 2005 season and replaced by Jim Reid. Reid moved Viola from fullback to defensive tackle, then left after two seasons to take a job with the Miami Dolphins.

This spring Viola and the rest of the Keydets are preparing for another season with another new coach. Sparky Woods was named the Keydets' coach in February.

"In the end, you play for the guys who play next to you. You play because you love it," Viola said Wednesday after the Keydets scrimmaged at Foster Stadium. "You just roll with the punches."

Viola was among those players who visited athletic director Donny White during the most recent coaching search. White said the players basically told him not to mess up.

"I think him and his staff made a real good choice," Viola said. Woods, he said, "is a real easy coach to adjust to."

With most of Reid's assistant coaches staying on, Woods said he relied on their evaluations of the current players and the newcomers who will arrive in the fall. And also with learning the ways of the Institute.

Woods said spring practice has gone fairly well, even if he did have to put the players' names on their helmets to help him learn who was who.

The Keydets will wrap up spring practice this weekend.

"We've had a few 'oh nos' and a whole bunch of 'atta boys,'" he said.

Woods said he is keeping the Keydets' option offense, but the offense runs other sets in practice to let the defense work on plays it will face. The defense, likewise, will run different sets to help the offense.

"Practicing against each other rather than beating up the same 12 guys, I think it will help build morale," Woods said.

In another change of philosophy, Woods said he would rather get incoming freshmen playing if they're ready rather than redshirting them. Reid wanted to get to a point where freshmen were almost always redshirted, which would give them a break while they went through the Rat Line.

Viola said the offense is behind the defense so far, but they've made progress in the week between their first scrimmage and Wednesday's scrimmage.

"The tackles and guards are frustrating me more anyway," Viola said. "That either means they're getting better, or I'm getting worse."

Some of that improvement comes from the move of lineman Ben Brandt from offense to defense.

Tim Maypray was the leading rusher Wednesday, gaining 51 yards on seven carries. He also caught a 53-yard TD pass from QB Cameron Jones.

Jones and Justin Hickman got all of the work at quarterback because starter Kyle Hughes had surgery to repair ligament damage in his thumb Wednesday.

Woods said Hughes remains the top quarterback by virtue of moving the ball better than the others this spring.

With new defensive coordinator A.J. Christoff, Woods has switched the defense from four down linemen and three linebackers to three down linemen and four linebackers.

"It's hard to find defensive linemen," Woods said. "It fits our personnel and the players we can recruit. And also, I think, it gets a little more speed on the field."

It was a welcome change.

"Because we had a such a poor defense last year, they were ready," Woods said. "But going to a three-down line is not going to make us a great defense."

Viola said the change has been easy for the down linemen.

"For the front, it hasn't been hard at all. We have three different things to do and we do them on every play," Viola said. "The 'backers have had to learn the most. Coach Cristoff has made the defense simple. If we play fast and play assignment football, we'll be OK."

Viola, a rising redshirt senior, hasn't seen much success with the Keydets. They were 0-11 his freshman season and have gone 6-27 since.

"Every year it seems like we can't finish," Viola said. "This spring -- like every year -- I feel like we can find a way to finish."