Monday (10/12)/Tuesday (10/13) Practices
Warm Up Songs:
Show Stop – Reason
NFL – Lil Wayne
Said Sum – Moneybagg Yo ft. DaBaby & City Girls
Still Dre – Dr. Dre ft. Snoop Dogg
General Observations
· During warm-ups, one of the stretching drills requires players to hold onto a football while they get loose. Kevin Mawae and other members of the Sun Devil Football support staff try to punch the ball out and force a fumble. Mawae was unsuccessful in his attempt to make Brandon Pierce fumble.
· Cristian Zendejas nailed a 47-yard field goal with Erik Dickerson as the long snapper and Michael Turk as the holder
· A rare loss for Jack Jones in 1-on-1 caused him some frustration. Jayden Daniels noticed a fiery Jones upset about allowing a catch. Daniels shouted "You are good #0. I love your competitiveness. I know you don't like to lose." Jones acknowledged Daniels support and let Daniels know "I appreciate you."
· Jones' desire for perfection came up again later in 1-on-1 work, an area where Jones has been exceptional in the opening days of practice. Frank Darby got the better of him on a deep ball and Jones came to the sideline, acknowledged the route Darby ran and immediately went to Chris Hawkins to discuss what he should have done on the play. After the chat, Jones asked Hawkins what his record was in man-to-man coverage through the first three days of practice "What am I now? 20-2 or 20-3? That's too many. Those are adding up."
· Coach Edwards wanted to make sure Cam Phillips was rotating in and getting the proper amount of reps in the secondary during 3-on-3 work. Phillips had slowly been working his way back into practice fitness after rejoining the team late this Fall. Edwards shouted to Phillips, "When you going to get a rep? You keep telling us how you've been working out in Houston. Let's see what you got." Phillips took the next rep and forced an incomplete pass in his direction.
· During a special teams session, Will Shaffer delivered a big hit to protect his teammate who had just jumped on a loose ball after an attempted onside kick. Drew the praise of Special Teams Coordinator Shawn Slocum and Chase Lucas.
· Some of the corners wore boxing gloves during the 1-on-1 session, which prevented them from using their hands to grab. They were forced to completely rely on technique and athleticism. Chase Lucas, Jack Jones, and Jordan Clark were a few of the corners to don the gloves. Lucas didn't much enjoy the first rep with them on and attempted to take them off but Marvin Lewis wasn't having it. "Put 'em on Chase. Learn to play so you're not grabbin." Lucas got the better end of the next two reps and earned Lewis' blessing to pass them onto another teammate.
· Lucas had impeccable coverage on Johnny Wilson during the one-on-one action, but couldn't do much about the freshman's length as he simply went over the top of Lucas and made a contested grab. After the one-on-one period, Lucas went to chat with Herm Edwards about the play "Hey coach, #14 is going to be pretty good. I thought I had a pick there." Edwards smiled and nodded "#3 (LV Bunkley-Shelton) is going to be really good also."
· Offensive line coach Dave Christensen is not hesitant about letting his opinion be known, but he had a lot of praise to offer to Dohnovan West and Cade Cote during positional drills, letting them know that "That's how practice is supposed to look. Good job!."
· T Lee had his best day so far and flashed his instincts and awareness all session. Broke on a route and stepped in front of a receiver to make an interception, much to the delight of Chase Lucas and the rest of his defensive teammates
· D.J. Davidson keeps getting into the backfield consistently, whether it be on run or pass plays. He was without question the most fluid defensive lineman during dummy drills and he and Jermayne Lole were the only two that didn't have to go back and repeat reps.
· Defensive line coach Robert Rodriguez emphasized with his ends the importance of finishing every rep completely and not taking shortcuts at the end, having Stanley Lambert and Tyler Johnson focus on the "finish" several times.
Individual Drills
· Antonio Pierce had his linebacker group practicing tackling with emphasis on keeping the head up. One of the loudest drills at practice because the pads were popping as the physical mentality of the linebackers was on display.
· Connor Soelle has been working with the linebacker unit, which sometimes requires him to go head-to-head with his older brother and team captain Kyle Soelle. Much like the backyard growing up, the Soelle brothers had no problem getting physical with each other during the hitting drill.
· Coach Edwards was involved with several position groups during individual work, but was particularly hands-on with the defensive backs. The former NFL defensive back himself was demonstrating how he wanted the defensive backs to back pedal and flip their hips and accelerate to where the ball was being thrown. Chase Lucas and Jack Jones picked the brain of Edwards while he was teaching.
· Jack Jones continues to get more comfortable as a leader. He held the coaches accountable after they ran a drill to the same side too many times in a row. Jones commented, "Mix it up. Give us a different look." The coaches acknowledged he was right and proceeded to alternate sides and challenge the secondary with different ways of doing the drill.
· Edwards remained with the secondary to emphasize pre-snap alignment and how to best utilize your eyes. He pointed out that while you want to use your eyes, you can't always rely on them. Edwards instructed that a combination of trusting technique and strong eye discipline is more effective.
Warm Up Songs:
Show Stop – Reason
NFL – Lil Wayne
Said Sum – Moneybagg Yo ft. DaBaby & City Girls
Still Dre – Dr. Dre ft. Snoop Dogg
General Observations
· During warm-ups, one of the stretching drills requires players to hold onto a football while they get loose. Kevin Mawae and other members of the Sun Devil Football support staff try to punch the ball out and force a fumble. Mawae was unsuccessful in his attempt to make Brandon Pierce fumble.
· Cristian Zendejas nailed a 47-yard field goal with Erik Dickerson as the long snapper and Michael Turk as the holder
· A rare loss for Jack Jones in 1-on-1 caused him some frustration. Jayden Daniels noticed a fiery Jones upset about allowing a catch. Daniels shouted "You are good #0. I love your competitiveness. I know you don't like to lose." Jones acknowledged Daniels support and let Daniels know "I appreciate you."
· Jones' desire for perfection came up again later in 1-on-1 work, an area where Jones has been exceptional in the opening days of practice. Frank Darby got the better of him on a deep ball and Jones came to the sideline, acknowledged the route Darby ran and immediately went to Chris Hawkins to discuss what he should have done on the play. After the chat, Jones asked Hawkins what his record was in man-to-man coverage through the first three days of practice "What am I now? 20-2 or 20-3? That's too many. Those are adding up."
· Coach Edwards wanted to make sure Cam Phillips was rotating in and getting the proper amount of reps in the secondary during 3-on-3 work. Phillips had slowly been working his way back into practice fitness after rejoining the team late this Fall. Edwards shouted to Phillips, "When you going to get a rep? You keep telling us how you've been working out in Houston. Let's see what you got." Phillips took the next rep and forced an incomplete pass in his direction.
· During a special teams session, Will Shaffer delivered a big hit to protect his teammate who had just jumped on a loose ball after an attempted onside kick. Drew the praise of Special Teams Coordinator Shawn Slocum and Chase Lucas.
· Some of the corners wore boxing gloves during the 1-on-1 session, which prevented them from using their hands to grab. They were forced to completely rely on technique and athleticism. Chase Lucas, Jack Jones, and Jordan Clark were a few of the corners to don the gloves. Lucas didn't much enjoy the first rep with them on and attempted to take them off but Marvin Lewis wasn't having it. "Put 'em on Chase. Learn to play so you're not grabbin." Lucas got the better end of the next two reps and earned Lewis' blessing to pass them onto another teammate.
· Lucas had impeccable coverage on Johnny Wilson during the one-on-one action, but couldn't do much about the freshman's length as he simply went over the top of Lucas and made a contested grab. After the one-on-one period, Lucas went to chat with Herm Edwards about the play "Hey coach, #14 is going to be pretty good. I thought I had a pick there." Edwards smiled and nodded "#3 (LV Bunkley-Shelton) is going to be really good also."
· Offensive line coach Dave Christensen is not hesitant about letting his opinion be known, but he had a lot of praise to offer to Dohnovan West and Cade Cote during positional drills, letting them know that "That's how practice is supposed to look. Good job!."
· T Lee had his best day so far and flashed his instincts and awareness all session. Broke on a route and stepped in front of a receiver to make an interception, much to the delight of Chase Lucas and the rest of his defensive teammates
· D.J. Davidson keeps getting into the backfield consistently, whether it be on run or pass plays. He was without question the most fluid defensive lineman during dummy drills and he and Jermayne Lole were the only two that didn't have to go back and repeat reps.
· Defensive line coach Robert Rodriguez emphasized with his ends the importance of finishing every rep completely and not taking shortcuts at the end, having Stanley Lambert and Tyler Johnson focus on the "finish" several times.
Individual Drills
· Antonio Pierce had his linebacker group practicing tackling with emphasis on keeping the head up. One of the loudest drills at practice because the pads were popping as the physical mentality of the linebackers was on display.
· Connor Soelle has been working with the linebacker unit, which sometimes requires him to go head-to-head with his older brother and team captain Kyle Soelle. Much like the backyard growing up, the Soelle brothers had no problem getting physical with each other during the hitting drill.
· Coach Edwards was involved with several position groups during individual work, but was particularly hands-on with the defensive backs. The former NFL defensive back himself was demonstrating how he wanted the defensive backs to back pedal and flip their hips and accelerate to where the ball was being thrown. Chase Lucas and Jack Jones picked the brain of Edwards while he was teaching.
· Jack Jones continues to get more comfortable as a leader. He held the coaches accountable after they ran a drill to the same side too many times in a row. Jones commented, "Mix it up. Give us a different look." The coaches acknowledged he was right and proceeded to alternate sides and challenge the secondary with different ways of doing the drill.
· Edwards remained with the secondary to emphasize pre-snap alignment and how to best utilize your eyes. He pointed out that while you want to use your eyes, you can't always rely on them. Edwards instructed that a combination of trusting technique and strong eye discipline is more effective.
