Hey folks, new observations from the second day of practice, which again was completely open to the media. This was the last full practice that we'll get to watch. From here on out, we'll be getting smaller sessions, but we'll still provide all details we can pick up right here on the Tribal Council.
These are comments from Gene and myself. Some will overlap, but will try not to.
There is some information in the Day 2 live updates thread that won't be covered here. So be sure to check that out if you haven't.
Observations from Ira:
* Pretty cool watching Greg Frey coach. He can get fiery, but he also does a lot of quiet teaching. He talks to the linemen like adults -- at times even asking them their preference on which drill they want to do next and which one after that. Then he'll tell them they can do some drills in the sun and some in the shade, and he'll ask if they want to start in the shade or end in the shade. It's cool to see him give them that ownership.
* Frey and Odell Haggins got the o-line and d-line together to work on some hand-fighting drills together. The o-linemen were working to get their hands on the chest of the d-linemen, the d-linemen would slap them away, and then the o-line would work to re-engage. Frey demonstrated it first by doing it with Josh Kaindoh, who seemed to get a little frustrated as it went on because Frey was so persistent with his hands. And Frey laughed ... "You see that? He got a little pissed off. He couldn't get the old guy off of him." ... Odell then had a similar exchange with Cole Minshew.
* A pair of freshmen -- CB AJ Lytton and WR Tre'shaun Harrison -- got moved to the older players' practice instead of the early newcomers practice. And both showed why. They're very talented kids.
Harrison caught like a 50-yard bomb on Cyrus Fagan in one-on-ones. Both Blackman and Hockman sprinted down to the end zone to celebrate with him. David Kelly and even Willie Taggart ran down to give him chest bumps.
Lytton also got a lot of love from Taggart and his teammates when he broke up a pass to Keith Gavin.
* Taggart was giving out a lot of chest-bumps today. Shortly after that, gave one to Stanford Samuels after Samuels broke up a pass to Harrison.
* QBs -- Francois looked like he was getting more reps with the ones today. That may vary from day to day, but he could be taking a slight lead in the competition. (Gene wrote more about the QBs below)
* Offensive line -- Started with the same group as yesterday -- Jauan Williams at LT, Derrick Kelly at LG, Alec Eberle at C, Cole Minshew at RG and Landon Dickerson at RT. ... Baveon Johnson and Corey Martinez got in with the ones some as well -- at guard and center.
* One of the highlights of 7-on-7 came when Stanford Samuels picked off a pass and returned it for a touchdown. It looked like the play was Harrison's fault -- he might have run the wrong route, because the ball was thrown at him but he never looked back.
As soon as Samuels picked it off, Cyrus Fagan (who was standing on the sideline) asked a manager if she could hold his helmet. Then he picked up a big rubber trash can and sprinted onto the field with it and held it up so the DBs could dunk the ball. It was a pretty funny celebration.
* Levonta Taylor has just been a beast so far. They keep throwing his way, and he just doesn't give up completions. It doesn't help that the WRs are short-handed, but he's been at a different level.
* Janarius Robinson got a lot of time with the first-team defense today. Assuming it was because they were taking things slow with Kaindoh, but he's clearly impressing the coaches.
* The only real constant at linebacker seems to be DeCalon Brooks. Looks like they're rotating the other guys -- Jackson, Thomas Warner, Woodbey -- a lot. (I think Josh Brown and Emmett Rice are going in the early practices, which is why we haven't seen them.)
* CB Carlos Becker must still not be 100 percent from the injury that kept him out of spring (ankle/foot). He did some drills, and then went and did some rehab.
* A highlight in 11-on-11: Blackman hit Laborn for a bomb after he appeared to get isolated on Dontavious Jackson down the seam. Great play. And the offensive players went nuts. Murray ran out onto the field, letting defensive players hear it. Laborn got mobbed by teammates and coaches and then went and spiked the ball in the middle of the field. It was a nice play for the offense, which has had a tough go of it.
* Nice defensive play in 11-on-11, looked like Blackman had Tre'Shaun Harrison open for a big gain, but Cyrus Fagan made a diving deflection to break it up.
* Taggart got really upset a few times because a signal was given to the offense to go hurry-up, and they didn't get lined up fast enough. So the defense had time to adjust. Taggart was livid. He can be a fun coach, but when he's angry, he can really let people know how mad he is.
* Men's basketball assistant coach Dennis Gates came out to watch practice, and Taggart came over and chatted with him for a bit.
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Observations from Gene:
* Only watched a handful of the OL/DL 1-on-1s, but a few that stood out were Brian Burns, Ja’len Parks, Josh Kaindoh and Cory Durden -- Durden looked like he won a few of those battles. OL Jauan Williams looked pretty good except when he went up against Burns. No one has looked good against Burns. Alec Eberle did pretty well in the couple I saw.
* WRs Noonie Murray and George Campbell both got more reps than yesterday, and Campbell was participating in 7-on-7s. Taggart said they're going to keep working him in gradually. Murray looked very good when he was in there ... then he came out so the trainers could ice his knee down. Murray got a lot of praise from David Kelly. Also, Tre McKitty had a good day. ... Tamorrion Terry just rehabbed with his calf strain, sustained Monday.
* Saw scouts from the Dolphins and Falcons there
From the 7-on-7 portion:
QBs -- Blackman had a rough outing. He throws a great deep ball, but Francois looks much better on the shorter passing game, and Hockman is probably right behind him.
Defense -- Samuels picked off Blackman and took it back. Levonta Taylor had a couple of nice PBUs. Freshman AJ Lytton had a nice PBU. Cyrus Fagan showed some nice coverage skills.
From the 11-on-11 portion:
QBs -- Francois looked solid again, but isn't taking many shots downfield. Blackman looked a little better here and hit a long TD pass to Khalan Laborn. Hockman had a long TD pass to Gavin, but Burns actually had a sack (touched the QB) on the play.
Laborn had a couple of really nice plays, including the long TD reception.
Defense: Burns was on fire. Counted two sacks and one TFL. Think I only saw him out there for probably six plays. Cyrus Fagan with a PBU. TFLs by Brooks and Woodbey. Kaindoh also had a pressure.
Other observations: A lot of LBs were rotating in with the first team during 11-on-11s: Jackson, Brooks, Thomas, Woodbey and Warner. However, Brooks was the only one that was out there on every rep.
Saw Abdul Bello getting more work at second-team OT in place of Corey Martinez, who was working more at guard today.
These are comments from Gene and myself. Some will overlap, but will try not to.
There is some information in the Day 2 live updates thread that won't be covered here. So be sure to check that out if you haven't.
Observations from Ira:
* Pretty cool watching Greg Frey coach. He can get fiery, but he also does a lot of quiet teaching. He talks to the linemen like adults -- at times even asking them their preference on which drill they want to do next and which one after that. Then he'll tell them they can do some drills in the sun and some in the shade, and he'll ask if they want to start in the shade or end in the shade. It's cool to see him give them that ownership.
* Frey and Odell Haggins got the o-line and d-line together to work on some hand-fighting drills together. The o-linemen were working to get their hands on the chest of the d-linemen, the d-linemen would slap them away, and then the o-line would work to re-engage. Frey demonstrated it first by doing it with Josh Kaindoh, who seemed to get a little frustrated as it went on because Frey was so persistent with his hands. And Frey laughed ... "You see that? He got a little pissed off. He couldn't get the old guy off of him." ... Odell then had a similar exchange with Cole Minshew.
* A pair of freshmen -- CB AJ Lytton and WR Tre'shaun Harrison -- got moved to the older players' practice instead of the early newcomers practice. And both showed why. They're very talented kids.
Harrison caught like a 50-yard bomb on Cyrus Fagan in one-on-ones. Both Blackman and Hockman sprinted down to the end zone to celebrate with him. David Kelly and even Willie Taggart ran down to give him chest bumps.
Lytton also got a lot of love from Taggart and his teammates when he broke up a pass to Keith Gavin.
* Taggart was giving out a lot of chest-bumps today. Shortly after that, gave one to Stanford Samuels after Samuels broke up a pass to Harrison.
* QBs -- Francois looked like he was getting more reps with the ones today. That may vary from day to day, but he could be taking a slight lead in the competition. (Gene wrote more about the QBs below)
* Offensive line -- Started with the same group as yesterday -- Jauan Williams at LT, Derrick Kelly at LG, Alec Eberle at C, Cole Minshew at RG and Landon Dickerson at RT. ... Baveon Johnson and Corey Martinez got in with the ones some as well -- at guard and center.
* One of the highlights of 7-on-7 came when Stanford Samuels picked off a pass and returned it for a touchdown. It looked like the play was Harrison's fault -- he might have run the wrong route, because the ball was thrown at him but he never looked back.
As soon as Samuels picked it off, Cyrus Fagan (who was standing on the sideline) asked a manager if she could hold his helmet. Then he picked up a big rubber trash can and sprinted onto the field with it and held it up so the DBs could dunk the ball. It was a pretty funny celebration.
* Levonta Taylor has just been a beast so far. They keep throwing his way, and he just doesn't give up completions. It doesn't help that the WRs are short-handed, but he's been at a different level.
* Janarius Robinson got a lot of time with the first-team defense today. Assuming it was because they were taking things slow with Kaindoh, but he's clearly impressing the coaches.
* The only real constant at linebacker seems to be DeCalon Brooks. Looks like they're rotating the other guys -- Jackson, Thomas Warner, Woodbey -- a lot. (I think Josh Brown and Emmett Rice are going in the early practices, which is why we haven't seen them.)
* CB Carlos Becker must still not be 100 percent from the injury that kept him out of spring (ankle/foot). He did some drills, and then went and did some rehab.
* A highlight in 11-on-11: Blackman hit Laborn for a bomb after he appeared to get isolated on Dontavious Jackson down the seam. Great play. And the offensive players went nuts. Murray ran out onto the field, letting defensive players hear it. Laborn got mobbed by teammates and coaches and then went and spiked the ball in the middle of the field. It was a nice play for the offense, which has had a tough go of it.
* Nice defensive play in 11-on-11, looked like Blackman had Tre'Shaun Harrison open for a big gain, but Cyrus Fagan made a diving deflection to break it up.
* Taggart got really upset a few times because a signal was given to the offense to go hurry-up, and they didn't get lined up fast enough. So the defense had time to adjust. Taggart was livid. He can be a fun coach, but when he's angry, he can really let people know how mad he is.
* Men's basketball assistant coach Dennis Gates came out to watch practice, and Taggart came over and chatted with him for a bit.
-----------------------------------------------
Observations from Gene:
* Only watched a handful of the OL/DL 1-on-1s, but a few that stood out were Brian Burns, Ja’len Parks, Josh Kaindoh and Cory Durden -- Durden looked like he won a few of those battles. OL Jauan Williams looked pretty good except when he went up against Burns. No one has looked good against Burns. Alec Eberle did pretty well in the couple I saw.
* WRs Noonie Murray and George Campbell both got more reps than yesterday, and Campbell was participating in 7-on-7s. Taggart said they're going to keep working him in gradually. Murray looked very good when he was in there ... then he came out so the trainers could ice his knee down. Murray got a lot of praise from David Kelly. Also, Tre McKitty had a good day. ... Tamorrion Terry just rehabbed with his calf strain, sustained Monday.
* Saw scouts from the Dolphins and Falcons there
From the 7-on-7 portion:
QBs -- Blackman had a rough outing. He throws a great deep ball, but Francois looks much better on the shorter passing game, and Hockman is probably right behind him.
Defense -- Samuels picked off Blackman and took it back. Levonta Taylor had a couple of nice PBUs. Freshman AJ Lytton had a nice PBU. Cyrus Fagan showed some nice coverage skills.
From the 11-on-11 portion:
QBs -- Francois looked solid again, but isn't taking many shots downfield. Blackman looked a little better here and hit a long TD pass to Khalan Laborn. Hockman had a long TD pass to Gavin, but Burns actually had a sack (touched the QB) on the play.
Laborn had a couple of really nice plays, including the long TD reception.
Defense: Burns was on fire. Counted two sacks and one TFL. Think I only saw him out there for probably six plays. Cyrus Fagan with a PBU. TFLs by Brooks and Woodbey. Kaindoh also had a pressure.
Other observations: A lot of LBs were rotating in with the first team during 11-on-11s: Jackson, Brooks, Thomas, Woodbey and Warner. However, Brooks was the only one that was out there on every rep.
Saw Abdul Bello getting more work at second-team OT in place of Corey Martinez, who was working more at guard today.
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