After raining a little bit last night, it was actually a pretty nice morning in Tempe, but again the team was back inside the practice bubble.
For the first time though, we got to see a "real" practice so to speak, with newcomers and veterans together all wearing pads. The only players not in pads were a few injured players that mostly stayed on the sidelines.
Dillon Faamatau underwent surgery on his left knee earlier in the week and was in a green jersey on crutches. Cam Smith underwent surgery in the spring and has no knee brace or noticeable limp, but watched from the sidelines in shorts. The only player not in pads who participated at all was Jay Jay Wilson, who did a little bit of individual drills.
Jordan Simone was wearing a green jersey too, but didn't appear to be limited at all and worked in 11-on-11. He has really developed into the most vocal leader on the team and has no problem flipping the switch from dancing and firing up teammates to yelling at guys for not hustling to get on and off the field. The respect he has earned in return is evident.
Freshman were mostly out of the two-deep when 11-on-11's got started, which isn't surprising, for now. The sole exception was Brady White, who worked as the second-team quarterback on Friday. Here's the whole two-deep from the session:
First team offense: Mike Bercovici (QB), Demario Richard (RB), D.J. Foster (WR), Gary Chambers (WR), Fred Gammage (WR), Kody Kohl (TE), Evan Goodman (LT), Christian Westerman (LG), Nick Kelly (C), Vi Teofilo (RG), and Billy McGehee (RT).
First team defense: Demetrius Cherry (DE), Ami Latu (N), Tashon Smallwood (DT), Kalen Ballage (Devil), Antonio Longino (WILL), Salamo Fiso (SAM), Laiu Moeakiola (SPUR), Lloyd Carrington (CB), Kweishi Brown (CB), Jordan Simone (S), and James Johnson (S).
Second team offense: Brady White (QB), Jacom Brimhall (RB), De'Chavon Hayes (RB), Eric Lauderdale (WR), Devin Lucien (WR), Ellis Jefferson (WR), Sam Jones (LT), Christian Westerman (LG), Stephon McCray (C), Nick Kelly (RG), and Quinn Bailey (RT).
Second team defense: Edmond Boateng (DE), Connor Humphreys (N), Emmanuel Dayries (DT), Ismael Murphy-Richardson (Devil), DJ Calhoun (WILL), Christian Sam (SAM), Marcus Ball (SPUR), Solomon Means (CB), Ronald Lewis (CB), Armand Perry (S), and Chad Adams (S).
As coaches have more time to evaluate the newcomers against the veterans, I expect we'll see some more shuffling of the two-deep now that the whole team is together, but for now, things mostly look the same.
In 11-on-11's, the offense definitely won the day. Both the first-team and second-team defenses were beat by screen passes up the sideline. The first was a long touchdown to Gammage, who made a defender miss and just out ran everybody else up the sideline. On the very next play, Lauderdale found a solid gain up the opposite sideline against the second-team defense.
Later in practice, we got to see the Bercovici to Foster connection on back-to-back plays which looks like it may be gelling better than it did in the spring. On the first play, Bercovici hit Foster on a hook, throwing the ball before the receiver came out of his break. The move was good enough to make Lloyd Carrington literally come out of his left shoe. On the next play, Bercovici again released a ball that arrived as soon as Foster came out of his break on an out route that was basically impossible for Solomon Means to defend.
A lot of the day was spent working on kickoff and punt coverage. On kickoffs, Jalen Harvey and Devin Lucien were back to return, while Gump Hayes and Tim White were back for punts. The team was working on coverage, not returns though, so take those players with a grain of salt.
The other thing that stood out today was the size of some of the freshman. It was obvious earlier in the week that some guys pass the eye test, but in pads it was clear that the team added a ton of size with this class. In particular, Zach Robertson, Steve Miller and Jalen Bates are just plain large. We still haven't seen Robertson in action much, but he just looks like the type of offensive lineman who's going to maul everyone he touches. Definitely a first-off-the-bus type of guy.
On the veterans side, I think Armand Perry looks a little bigger than he did as a freshman. While an injury kept him out of spring ball, I think time in the weight room has served him well and he looks much more physically mature than he did last year.
The only other note I have from this morning was that a Houston Texans scout was on hand to observe. Feel free to shoot any questions my way and I'm planning on chatting with Demario Richard in a bit, so expect something from that later today.
For the first time though, we got to see a "real" practice so to speak, with newcomers and veterans together all wearing pads. The only players not in pads were a few injured players that mostly stayed on the sidelines.
Dillon Faamatau underwent surgery on his left knee earlier in the week and was in a green jersey on crutches. Cam Smith underwent surgery in the spring and has no knee brace or noticeable limp, but watched from the sidelines in shorts. The only player not in pads who participated at all was Jay Jay Wilson, who did a little bit of individual drills.
Jordan Simone was wearing a green jersey too, but didn't appear to be limited at all and worked in 11-on-11. He has really developed into the most vocal leader on the team and has no problem flipping the switch from dancing and firing up teammates to yelling at guys for not hustling to get on and off the field. The respect he has earned in return is evident.
Freshman were mostly out of the two-deep when 11-on-11's got started, which isn't surprising, for now. The sole exception was Brady White, who worked as the second-team quarterback on Friday. Here's the whole two-deep from the session:
First team offense: Mike Bercovici (QB), Demario Richard (RB), D.J. Foster (WR), Gary Chambers (WR), Fred Gammage (WR), Kody Kohl (TE), Evan Goodman (LT), Christian Westerman (LG), Nick Kelly (C), Vi Teofilo (RG), and Billy McGehee (RT).
First team defense: Demetrius Cherry (DE), Ami Latu (N), Tashon Smallwood (DT), Kalen Ballage (Devil), Antonio Longino (WILL), Salamo Fiso (SAM), Laiu Moeakiola (SPUR), Lloyd Carrington (CB), Kweishi Brown (CB), Jordan Simone (S), and James Johnson (S).
Second team offense: Brady White (QB), Jacom Brimhall (RB), De'Chavon Hayes (RB), Eric Lauderdale (WR), Devin Lucien (WR), Ellis Jefferson (WR), Sam Jones (LT), Christian Westerman (LG), Stephon McCray (C), Nick Kelly (RG), and Quinn Bailey (RT).
Second team defense: Edmond Boateng (DE), Connor Humphreys (N), Emmanuel Dayries (DT), Ismael Murphy-Richardson (Devil), DJ Calhoun (WILL), Christian Sam (SAM), Marcus Ball (SPUR), Solomon Means (CB), Ronald Lewis (CB), Armand Perry (S), and Chad Adams (S).
As coaches have more time to evaluate the newcomers against the veterans, I expect we'll see some more shuffling of the two-deep now that the whole team is together, but for now, things mostly look the same.
In 11-on-11's, the offense definitely won the day. Both the first-team and second-team defenses were beat by screen passes up the sideline. The first was a long touchdown to Gammage, who made a defender miss and just out ran everybody else up the sideline. On the very next play, Lauderdale found a solid gain up the opposite sideline against the second-team defense.
Later in practice, we got to see the Bercovici to Foster connection on back-to-back plays which looks like it may be gelling better than it did in the spring. On the first play, Bercovici hit Foster on a hook, throwing the ball before the receiver came out of his break. The move was good enough to make Lloyd Carrington literally come out of his left shoe. On the next play, Bercovici again released a ball that arrived as soon as Foster came out of his break on an out route that was basically impossible for Solomon Means to defend.
A lot of the day was spent working on kickoff and punt coverage. On kickoffs, Jalen Harvey and Devin Lucien were back to return, while Gump Hayes and Tim White were back for punts. The team was working on coverage, not returns though, so take those players with a grain of salt.
The other thing that stood out today was the size of some of the freshman. It was obvious earlier in the week that some guys pass the eye test, but in pads it was clear that the team added a ton of size with this class. In particular, Zach Robertson, Steve Miller and Jalen Bates are just plain large. We still haven't seen Robertson in action much, but he just looks like the type of offensive lineman who's going to maul everyone he touches. Definitely a first-off-the-bus type of guy.
On the veterans side, I think Armand Perry looks a little bigger than he did as a freshman. While an injury kept him out of spring ball, I think time in the weight room has served him well and he looks much more physically mature than he did last year.
The only other note I have from this morning was that a Houston Texans scout was on hand to observe. Feel free to shoot any questions my way and I'm planning on chatting with Demario Richard in a bit, so expect something from that later today.
