It wasn't raining in Tempe when practice began on Thursday morning, but the weather from Wednesday still left the Kajikawa Practice Fields too slippery for the coaches' liking, and the third day of spring practice was instead moved inside the Verde Dickey Dome.
You never really appreciate how much open space and room there is around the outdoor practice fields until everyone is crammed inside the practice bubble. With practice still open to the public, the sideline was definitely crowded and finding a good place to watch drills was difficult.
On the other hand, the new setting gave different perspectives that I don't usually have outside. While I've been relegated mostly to watching Jackie Shipp coach the defensive linemen, on Thursday I got my best look at Todd Graham working with the cornerbacks.
It wasn't the best day for Kweishi Brown, who started as the first-team boundary cornerback, but was replaced in 11-on-11s by Solomon Means midway through practice. Graham worked closely with Brown on keeping his eyes on the quarterback and using the passer's eyes and footwork to lead him to the ball rather than relying on the movement of the receiver.
The cornerbacks, as a group, have done a solid job so far in spring practice, but Ronald Lewis still has some work to do in his transition from wide receiver. He was the victim on the biggest play of the day when Brady White connected with Ellis Jefferson on a deep ball over the top. Graham talked to Lewis plenty about keeping his elbows in tight during his backpedal, which will help him with his change of direction.
The full two-deep for 11-on-11 was as follows, with the caveat that Brown and Means swapped places during practice:
1st Team
DL: Edmond Boateng (DE), Demetrius Cherry (NOSE), Ami Latu (TIGER), A.J. Latu (DEVIL)
LB: D.J. Calhoun (WILL), Salamo Fiso (SAM), Marcus Ball (SPUR)
DB: Lloyd Carrington (Field CB), Kweishi Brown (Boundary CB), Jordan Simone (Bandit S), James Johnson (Free S)
2nd Team
DL: Renell Wren (DE), Emanuel Dayries (NOSE), Tashon Smallwood (TIGER), Ismael Murphy-Richardson (DEVIL)
LB: Antonio Longino (WILL), Christian Sam (SAM), Carlos Mendoza (SPUR)
DB: Solomon Means (Field CB), Ronald Lewis (Boundary CB), DeAndre Scott (Bandit S), Chad Adams (Free S)
Thursday was the first day in full pads, so there was plenty of hitting and tackling for those cleared to do so. That didn't include Chans Cox, Mo Latu, Laiu Moeakiola, Armand Perry or Jamal Scott, who are all still wearing green. Jordan Simone also didn't participate in contract drills and is expected to wear gold for the rest of spring practices.
The highlight of the day was the 'W' Drill, which is ASU's variance of the Oklahoma drill. A running back has to make his way by one defensive lineman, one linebacker and one defensive back with the assistance of three blockers ahead of him. Essentially, it's a chance for the offense to practice run blocking and the defense to shed blocks and win at the point of attack.
On the first run through of the drill, Christian Westerman got the better of Demetrius Cherry, but he was the only one. For the rest of the W Drill, Cherry dominated and didn't allow the running back to get to the second level.
Westerman later faced Renell Wren and while the redshirt freshman didn't quite win the matchup outright, he performed well enough against arguably the best offensive lineman on the team to get his teammates fired up. They were a little too fired up for Westerman's liking when he and Wren were trying to get up and a scuffle broke out between the two sides.
Christian Sam also instigated with some chippiness throughout practice. During W Drills, he and Kalen Ballage got into it a few times, and Sam shared some words with De'Chavon Hayes later in practice too. Neither he nor fellow sophomore linebacker D.J. Calhoun shy away from the opportunity to hit.
Calhoun earned some praise from Graham and Keith Patterson during skeleton passing drills when he checked Ellis Jefferson about 5 yards off the line of scrimmage and almost knocked the receiver to the turf. Patterson yelled to the players watching on the sideline that it was the type of play he wanted to see. "This isn't 7-on-7; this is football!"
The defense forced a few turnovers on the day, but it was probably the better day for the offense, overall. They had plenty of explosive plays and the turnovers that were created for the defense, were really just gift wrapped by the offense. Manny Wilkins inexplicably threw a pass straight to Antonio Longino and Jordan Simone returned a fumble recovery for a touchdown when Brady White bobbled a snap off the ground that bounced right into the arms of the blitzing safety.
My goal for the day was to watch the linebackers most, but they were on the far side of the practice bubble for the majority of the session. During the little bit of time I got to watch Shawn Slocum work with the Devilbackers, he was working on the placement of the first step for A.J. Latu and Ismael Murphy-Richardson.
Murphy-Richardson and Raymond Epps were both a little too eager to contribute on Thursday and drew a couple of penalties each on Thursday for offsides and false start. But Slocum wasn't too critical of that and at one point complimented Murphy-Richardson's bouncing style. "You have a little hop in you. I like that."
For the first day back in pads and the first day hitting at full speed, there didn't appear to be any injuries or at least none serious enough to keep a player from continuing.
You never really appreciate how much open space and room there is around the outdoor practice fields until everyone is crammed inside the practice bubble. With practice still open to the public, the sideline was definitely crowded and finding a good place to watch drills was difficult.
On the other hand, the new setting gave different perspectives that I don't usually have outside. While I've been relegated mostly to watching Jackie Shipp coach the defensive linemen, on Thursday I got my best look at Todd Graham working with the cornerbacks.
It wasn't the best day for Kweishi Brown, who started as the first-team boundary cornerback, but was replaced in 11-on-11s by Solomon Means midway through practice. Graham worked closely with Brown on keeping his eyes on the quarterback and using the passer's eyes and footwork to lead him to the ball rather than relying on the movement of the receiver.
The cornerbacks, as a group, have done a solid job so far in spring practice, but Ronald Lewis still has some work to do in his transition from wide receiver. He was the victim on the biggest play of the day when Brady White connected with Ellis Jefferson on a deep ball over the top. Graham talked to Lewis plenty about keeping his elbows in tight during his backpedal, which will help him with his change of direction.
The full two-deep for 11-on-11 was as follows, with the caveat that Brown and Means swapped places during practice:
1st Team
DL: Edmond Boateng (DE), Demetrius Cherry (NOSE), Ami Latu (TIGER), A.J. Latu (DEVIL)
LB: D.J. Calhoun (WILL), Salamo Fiso (SAM), Marcus Ball (SPUR)
DB: Lloyd Carrington (Field CB), Kweishi Brown (Boundary CB), Jordan Simone (Bandit S), James Johnson (Free S)
2nd Team
DL: Renell Wren (DE), Emanuel Dayries (NOSE), Tashon Smallwood (TIGER), Ismael Murphy-Richardson (DEVIL)
LB: Antonio Longino (WILL), Christian Sam (SAM), Carlos Mendoza (SPUR)
DB: Solomon Means (Field CB), Ronald Lewis (Boundary CB), DeAndre Scott (Bandit S), Chad Adams (Free S)
Thursday was the first day in full pads, so there was plenty of hitting and tackling for those cleared to do so. That didn't include Chans Cox, Mo Latu, Laiu Moeakiola, Armand Perry or Jamal Scott, who are all still wearing green. Jordan Simone also didn't participate in contract drills and is expected to wear gold for the rest of spring practices.
The highlight of the day was the 'W' Drill, which is ASU's variance of the Oklahoma drill. A running back has to make his way by one defensive lineman, one linebacker and one defensive back with the assistance of three blockers ahead of him. Essentially, it's a chance for the offense to practice run blocking and the defense to shed blocks and win at the point of attack.
On the first run through of the drill, Christian Westerman got the better of Demetrius Cherry, but he was the only one. For the rest of the W Drill, Cherry dominated and didn't allow the running back to get to the second level.
Westerman later faced Renell Wren and while the redshirt freshman didn't quite win the matchup outright, he performed well enough against arguably the best offensive lineman on the team to get his teammates fired up. They were a little too fired up for Westerman's liking when he and Wren were trying to get up and a scuffle broke out between the two sides.
Christian Sam also instigated with some chippiness throughout practice. During W Drills, he and Kalen Ballage got into it a few times, and Sam shared some words with De'Chavon Hayes later in practice too. Neither he nor fellow sophomore linebacker D.J. Calhoun shy away from the opportunity to hit.
Calhoun earned some praise from Graham and Keith Patterson during skeleton passing drills when he checked Ellis Jefferson about 5 yards off the line of scrimmage and almost knocked the receiver to the turf. Patterson yelled to the players watching on the sideline that it was the type of play he wanted to see. "This isn't 7-on-7; this is football!"
The defense forced a few turnovers on the day, but it was probably the better day for the offense, overall. They had plenty of explosive plays and the turnovers that were created for the defense, were really just gift wrapped by the offense. Manny Wilkins inexplicably threw a pass straight to Antonio Longino and Jordan Simone returned a fumble recovery for a touchdown when Brady White bobbled a snap off the ground that bounced right into the arms of the blitzing safety.
My goal for the day was to watch the linebackers most, but they were on the far side of the practice bubble for the majority of the session. During the little bit of time I got to watch Shawn Slocum work with the Devilbackers, he was working on the placement of the first step for A.J. Latu and Ismael Murphy-Richardson.
Murphy-Richardson and Raymond Epps were both a little too eager to contribute on Thursday and drew a couple of penalties each on Thursday for offsides and false start. But Slocum wasn't too critical of that and at one point complimented Murphy-Richardson's bouncing style. "You have a little hop in you. I like that."
For the first day back in pads and the first day hitting at full speed, there didn't appear to be any injuries or at least none serious enough to keep a player from continuing.
