Practice was moved inside the Verde Dickey Dome on Thursday morning without much reason, but it was a nice escape from the sun for three hours. Inside things are a little more cramped, a little more crowded and some areas of the field are more difficult to see, but with that come new perspectives and drills that are typically on the far side of the Kajikawa Practice Fields are instead right in front of the media and fans.
With no Byron at practice today, I'll cover both offense and defense today.
I'll start on the injury front, where the most important thing was tight end Raymond Epps and offensive tackle Evan Goodman shed the green jerseys and were back in maroon. Epps looked to be a full go and ran with the offense mostly as an H-back.
The same can't be said for Goodman though, who still looked somewhat hobbled. He participated in several positional drills, but never any live action against defensive line.
Christian Westerman participated in that regard the last week, but on Thursday he was back in action and back with the starting offensive line in 11-on-11 drills. He looked back to his usual self too, and had a good day protecting Mike Bercovici.
Injury news wasn't as good on the defensive side. Salamo Fiso still isn't back on the field, although he isn't wearing green. He's dealing with a neck injury that isn't considered to be too serious and he should be back soon.
Antonio Longino, who suffered from a hit that left him dizzy and in need of assistance to get off the field on Tuesday, wore green and spent most of the day on the stationary bikes with Laiu Moeakiola and Mo Latu.
Ami Latu was in rotation early in practice, but about an hour in to the session on Thursday he limped off and was worked on at the trainer's table. He didn't return and left practice with a large wrap and ice on his left knee.
The full lineups for 11-on-11 were as follows:
1st team offense: Mike Bercovici (QB), Kalen Ballage (RB), D.J. Foster (WR), Gary Chambers (WR), Eric Lauderdale (WR), Kody Kohl (TE), Sam Jones (LT), Christian Westerman (LG), Nick Kelly (C), Stephon McCray (RG), Billy McGehee (RT).
2nd team offense: Manny Wilkins (QB), Nick Ralston (RB), Ellis Jefferson (WR), Tyler Whiley (WR), Jalen Harvey (WR), Dan Vear (TE), Steve Miller (LT), Jack Powers (LG), Tyler McClure (C), Devin Goodman (RG), and Quinn Bailey (RT).
1st Team
DL: Edmond Boateng (DE), Connor Humphreys (NOSE), Tashon Smallwood (TIGER), A.J. Latu (DEVIL)
LB: D.J. Calhoun (WILL), Christian Sam (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), Ami Latu (TIGER), Ismael Murphy-Richardson (DEVIL)
LB: Brandon Mathews (WILL), Carlos Mendoza (SAM), Luke Williams (SPUR)
DB: Ronald Lewis (Field CB), Jayme Otomewo (Boundary CB), Dasmond Tautalatasi (Bandit S), Chad Adams (Free S)
One notable absence from the two-deep is Demetrius Cherry, who was absent for the first two hours of practice. He showed up at 10:30 and was immediately inserted back with the first-team for the final 45 minutes of practice. Cherry missed practice on Saturday for personal reasons, so it's unclear if that's the same reason he was so late on Thursday.
Also, keep in mind that Wilkins and White often split time with the second unit and there is a ton of rotation among the running backs and wide receivers.
On that note, it was another victory for Wilkins in the battle of backup quarterbacks. He didn't have his best day, but White just couldn't stay away from pressure and was consistently sacked behind the second-team offensive line, while Wilkins did a good job rolling away from pressure and throwing on the run.
Overall, the offense couldn't do much of anything against the ASU defense which had another strong day. At one point, White was sacked on three consecutive plays and Wilkins was sacked two plays later to make it four sacks in five plays.
The biggest plays of the day for the offense came from acrobatic catches on the sideline by Frederick Gammage, Tyler Whiley and D.J. Foster. Ellis Jefferson and Kalen Ballage scored on screen passes, and Jacom Brimhall scored in skeleton drills when a miscommunication by DeAndre Scott left Brimhall wide open on a wheel route.
One popular player for quarterbacks was Kody Kohl, who seems to be a favorite of Mike Bercovici when nobody else is open. He hit the safety valve tight end often on Thursday, but targeted Foster with most of his first reads and the pair worked often on back-shoulder connections.
Gammage has missed some time with a leg injury and he still worked on the side more than most receivers and came off a few times to stretch, but he looked like himself on the field. Aside from his acrobatic touchdown catch while tightroping the left sideline, he is surprisingly good at fighting through and beating jams at the line of scrimmage for a player his size.
Easily the most entertaining thing in practice though, is watching Kalen Ballage rush the passer. After just a few reps on Tuesday, he worked more in one-on-ones on Thursday and even got some live reps in 11-on-11 and oh boy is it something. His first step is truly something special and he does an excellent job ducking his shoulder and using strong ankle flexion to bend around the edge.
In 11-on-11 Ballage only rushed the passer twice, once from each side right on the line of scrimmage, but never from a three-point stance. On his first rush, he made Sam Jones overcommit to the outside and beat him with an inside move that collapsed the pocket and forced Bercovici to run to his right. On the second rush, he pulled the same exact move against Billy McGehee that didn't quite collapse the pocket as much, but still forced Bercovici off his spot.
At one point in practice Todd Graham asked Shawn Slocum, who is coaching up the Devilbackers, how Ballage looked rushing the passer and it looked like Ballage got the Slocum seal of approval. I'd expect to see that experiment be something that continues to develop.
To wrap things up, it was still Bercovici, Carrington and Simone in the PT42 jerseys, but there were a few new players in flame helmets, including two special teamers. The full group of Inferno helmet players: Ellis Jefferson, Gary Chambers, Matt Haack, Kalen Ballage, Nick Kelly, Stephon McCray, Billy McGehee, Gump Hayes, Demario Richard, Kody Kohl, James Johnson, DeAndre Scott, Mitchell Fraboni, Ronald Lewis, Jacom Brimhall.
Questions about practice are welcome.
With no Byron at practice today, I'll cover both offense and defense today.
I'll start on the injury front, where the most important thing was tight end Raymond Epps and offensive tackle Evan Goodman shed the green jerseys and were back in maroon. Epps looked to be a full go and ran with the offense mostly as an H-back.
The same can't be said for Goodman though, who still looked somewhat hobbled. He participated in several positional drills, but never any live action against defensive line.
Christian Westerman participated in that regard the last week, but on Thursday he was back in action and back with the starting offensive line in 11-on-11 drills. He looked back to his usual self too, and had a good day protecting Mike Bercovici.
Injury news wasn't as good on the defensive side. Salamo Fiso still isn't back on the field, although he isn't wearing green. He's dealing with a neck injury that isn't considered to be too serious and he should be back soon.
Antonio Longino, who suffered from a hit that left him dizzy and in need of assistance to get off the field on Tuesday, wore green and spent most of the day on the stationary bikes with Laiu Moeakiola and Mo Latu.
Ami Latu was in rotation early in practice, but about an hour in to the session on Thursday he limped off and was worked on at the trainer's table. He didn't return and left practice with a large wrap and ice on his left knee.
The full lineups for 11-on-11 were as follows:
1st team offense: Mike Bercovici (QB), Kalen Ballage (RB), D.J. Foster (WR), Gary Chambers (WR), Eric Lauderdale (WR), Kody Kohl (TE), Sam Jones (LT), Christian Westerman (LG), Nick Kelly (C), Stephon McCray (RG), Billy McGehee (RT).
2nd team offense: Manny Wilkins (QB), Nick Ralston (RB), Ellis Jefferson (WR), Tyler Whiley (WR), Jalen Harvey (WR), Dan Vear (TE), Steve Miller (LT), Jack Powers (LG), Tyler McClure (C), Devin Goodman (RG), and Quinn Bailey (RT).
1st Team
DL: Edmond Boateng (DE), Connor Humphreys (NOSE), Tashon Smallwood (TIGER), A.J. Latu (DEVIL)
LB: D.J. Calhoun (WILL), Christian Sam (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), Ami Latu (TIGER), Ismael Murphy-Richardson (DEVIL)
LB: Brandon Mathews (WILL), Carlos Mendoza (SAM), Luke Williams (SPUR)
DB: Ronald Lewis (Field CB), Jayme Otomewo (Boundary CB), Dasmond Tautalatasi (Bandit S), Chad Adams (Free S)
One notable absence from the two-deep is Demetrius Cherry, who was absent for the first two hours of practice. He showed up at 10:30 and was immediately inserted back with the first-team for the final 45 minutes of practice. Cherry missed practice on Saturday for personal reasons, so it's unclear if that's the same reason he was so late on Thursday.
Also, keep in mind that Wilkins and White often split time with the second unit and there is a ton of rotation among the running backs and wide receivers.
On that note, it was another victory for Wilkins in the battle of backup quarterbacks. He didn't have his best day, but White just couldn't stay away from pressure and was consistently sacked behind the second-team offensive line, while Wilkins did a good job rolling away from pressure and throwing on the run.
Overall, the offense couldn't do much of anything against the ASU defense which had another strong day. At one point, White was sacked on three consecutive plays and Wilkins was sacked two plays later to make it four sacks in five plays.
The biggest plays of the day for the offense came from acrobatic catches on the sideline by Frederick Gammage, Tyler Whiley and D.J. Foster. Ellis Jefferson and Kalen Ballage scored on screen passes, and Jacom Brimhall scored in skeleton drills when a miscommunication by DeAndre Scott left Brimhall wide open on a wheel route.
One popular player for quarterbacks was Kody Kohl, who seems to be a favorite of Mike Bercovici when nobody else is open. He hit the safety valve tight end often on Thursday, but targeted Foster with most of his first reads and the pair worked often on back-shoulder connections.
Gammage has missed some time with a leg injury and he still worked on the side more than most receivers and came off a few times to stretch, but he looked like himself on the field. Aside from his acrobatic touchdown catch while tightroping the left sideline, he is surprisingly good at fighting through and beating jams at the line of scrimmage for a player his size.
Easily the most entertaining thing in practice though, is watching Kalen Ballage rush the passer. After just a few reps on Tuesday, he worked more in one-on-ones on Thursday and even got some live reps in 11-on-11 and oh boy is it something. His first step is truly something special and he does an excellent job ducking his shoulder and using strong ankle flexion to bend around the edge.
In 11-on-11 Ballage only rushed the passer twice, once from each side right on the line of scrimmage, but never from a three-point stance. On his first rush, he made Sam Jones overcommit to the outside and beat him with an inside move that collapsed the pocket and forced Bercovici to run to his right. On the second rush, he pulled the same exact move against Billy McGehee that didn't quite collapse the pocket as much, but still forced Bercovici off his spot.
At one point in practice Todd Graham asked Shawn Slocum, who is coaching up the Devilbackers, how Ballage looked rushing the passer and it looked like Ballage got the Slocum seal of approval. I'd expect to see that experiment be something that continues to develop.
To wrap things up, it was still Bercovici, Carrington and Simone in the PT42 jerseys, but there were a few new players in flame helmets, including two special teamers. The full group of Inferno helmet players: Ellis Jefferson, Gary Chambers, Matt Haack, Kalen Ballage, Nick Kelly, Stephon McCray, Billy McGehee, Gump Hayes, Demario Richard, Kody Kohl, James Johnson, DeAndre Scott, Mitchell Fraboni, Ronald Lewis, Jacom Brimhall.
Questions about practice are welcome.
