Byron handled Tuesday and it was all me for Thursday, so observations for both sides of the ball are here.
Overall, it was a pretty unexciting day without too many clashes between the offense and defense until the end of practice. There hasn't been any back-to-back practices, so my guess is that the coaches wanted to take it a little lighter than usual with the spring game just one day away.
Still, when the two sides clashed, it was the defense that came out on top more often than not on Thursday. The offense managed seven explosive plays, but the defense recorded six sacks and three turnovers, and generally kept the offense in check.
The full two-deep on Thursday:
1st team offense: Mike Bercovici (QB), Kalen Ballage (RB), Gary Chambers (WR), D.J. Foster (WR), Fred Gammage (WR), Kody Kohl (TE), Sam Jones (LT), Christian Westerman (LG), Nick Kelly (C), Stephon McCray (RG), Billy McGehee (RT).
1st team defense: Edmond Boateng (End), Tashon Smallwood (NOSE), Demetrius Cherry (Tiger), AJ Latu (Devil), Marcus Ball (SPUR), Christian Sam (SAM), DJ Calhoun (WILL), Lloyd Carrington (corner), Solomon Means (corner), Jordan Simone (safety), James Johnson (safety).
2nd team offense: Manny Wilkins (QB), Jacom Brimhall (RB), De'Chavon Hayes (RB), Raymond Epps (TE), Ellis Jefferson (WR), Eric Lauderdale (WR), Evan Goodman (LT), Jack Powers (LG), Tyler McClure (C), Devin Goodman (RG), and Quinn Bailey (RT).
2nd team defense: Renell Wren (End), Connor Humphreys (NOSE), Ami Latu (Tiger), Ismael Murphy-Richardson (Devil), Luke Williams (SPUR), Carlos Mendoza (SAM), Antonio Longino (WILL), Jayme Otomewo (corner), Ronald Lewis (corner), Dasmond Tautalatasi (safety), DeAndre Scott (safety).
As always, the offense featured plenty of rotation at the skill positions with several running backs and wide receivers getting reps throughout the day. On defense, things looked a little different than usual as the coaches spent most of the day working on more of a nickel defense.
In nickel, Tashon Smallwood and Ami Latu handled the two defensive tackle spots and the team experimented with Christian Sam stepping in as a Devilbacker. After practice, Coach Graham said Sam asked to try his hand at rushing the passer. Maybe it'll be a skill that he can hone with Shawn Slocum, but for now, it's not something he looks very natural at and he was manhandled by Quinn Bailey and Billy McGehee in one-on-one pass rushing drills.
On that note, there was still no Kalen Ballage rushing the practice after he spent some time doing it last week. Graham said after practice that there's no doubt Ballage spends some time rushing the passer during the season, though.
With Sam on the line of scrimmage, the defense experimented with James Johnson playing up on the line of scrimmage and lining up against slot receivers. That allowed Marcus Ball to drop back some at Spur and gave Jordan Simone more of a center-fielder role in the secondary.
Johnson was up and down in the role and had some solid coverage, but also had some struggles. When Johnson wasn't up against the slot receivers, it was Chad Adams, who might have a future there.
Adams is falling out of the safety rotation, due mostly to the strong play of Dasmond Tautalatasi, but he looked more natural in the slot. He had a mostly strong day with the exception of his time against Ellis Jefferson, who had a very solid day.
Jefferson stood out more than any other receiver, while guys like Eric Lauderdale and Jalen Harvey had underwhelming showings on Tuesday.
The stars of the day on offense were the starting offensive line, who did a very good job at keeping Mike Bercovici clean for the most part and dominated in pass rushing drills. The pair of Sam Jones and Billy McGehee continue to look very strong, and even now that Evan Goodman is back from injury, I don't think he'll be seeing some first-team snaps any time soon.
The three turnovers of the day were all somewhat fluky. Two were passes from Wilkins that bounced off the hands of receivers, Lauderdale and Ty Whiley, into the arms of Ronald Lewis and Tautalatasi, respectively. The third was a sack/forced fumble by Edmond Boateng, who batted a ball out of the hand of Bercovici right as he was prepping to throw. Graham wasn't happy about the defensive end endangering the starting quarterback's arm like that and let Boateng know.
My favorite thing to watch in practice recently has been the 8 vs. 8 battle on the outside when D.J. Foster goes against Lloyd Carrington. Foster absolutely smoked Carrington at the line of scrimmage on one play when Lloyd tried to jam him, and it would've been an easy touchdown if Wilkins was looking left.
Carrington got his revenge later when Foster had a touchdown in the back of the end zone knocked out of his hands at the last possible second. There's no doubt that they are two of the leaders of the team and it's fun to watch the two go to battle.
Some final notes, I counted 28 flame helmets and it was still Bercovici, Johnson and Carrington in the PT42 camo jerseys. Mo Latu, Laiu Moeakiola, Armand Perry, Chans Cox, Vi Teofilo, Cam Smith, Kweishi Brown, Christian Westerman, Jamal Scott, Antonio Longino and Dasmond Tautalatasi were in green.
Jaelen Strong and Derek Hagan showed up near the end of practice, but JoJo Wicker was there from start to finish and stayed pretty close to the defensive lineman for all of practice. He had some discussions with Graham, Mo Latu, Demetrius Cherry and Jackie Shipp while he watched.
Some other visitors were
2016 RB Isaiah Gilchrist (Bellevue, WA)
https://sports.yahoo.com/footballrecruiting/football/recruiting/player-Isaiah-Gilchrist-156138
2017 OT Cody Kanouse (Peninsula H.S., Gig Harbor, Wash.)
http://www.hudl.com/athlete/2714863/cody-kanouse
Overall, it was a pretty unexciting day without too many clashes between the offense and defense until the end of practice. There hasn't been any back-to-back practices, so my guess is that the coaches wanted to take it a little lighter than usual with the spring game just one day away.
Still, when the two sides clashed, it was the defense that came out on top more often than not on Thursday. The offense managed seven explosive plays, but the defense recorded six sacks and three turnovers, and generally kept the offense in check.
The full two-deep on Thursday:
1st team offense: Mike Bercovici (QB), Kalen Ballage (RB), Gary Chambers (WR), D.J. Foster (WR), Fred Gammage (WR), Kody Kohl (TE), Sam Jones (LT), Christian Westerman (LG), Nick Kelly (C), Stephon McCray (RG), Billy McGehee (RT).
1st team defense: Edmond Boateng (End), Tashon Smallwood (NOSE), Demetrius Cherry (Tiger), AJ Latu (Devil), Marcus Ball (SPUR), Christian Sam (SAM), DJ Calhoun (WILL), Lloyd Carrington (corner), Solomon Means (corner), Jordan Simone (safety), James Johnson (safety).
2nd team offense: Manny Wilkins (QB), Jacom Brimhall (RB), De'Chavon Hayes (RB), Raymond Epps (TE), Ellis Jefferson (WR), Eric Lauderdale (WR), Evan Goodman (LT), Jack Powers (LG), Tyler McClure (C), Devin Goodman (RG), and Quinn Bailey (RT).
2nd team defense: Renell Wren (End), Connor Humphreys (NOSE), Ami Latu (Tiger), Ismael Murphy-Richardson (Devil), Luke Williams (SPUR), Carlos Mendoza (SAM), Antonio Longino (WILL), Jayme Otomewo (corner), Ronald Lewis (corner), Dasmond Tautalatasi (safety), DeAndre Scott (safety).
As always, the offense featured plenty of rotation at the skill positions with several running backs and wide receivers getting reps throughout the day. On defense, things looked a little different than usual as the coaches spent most of the day working on more of a nickel defense.
In nickel, Tashon Smallwood and Ami Latu handled the two defensive tackle spots and the team experimented with Christian Sam stepping in as a Devilbacker. After practice, Coach Graham said Sam asked to try his hand at rushing the passer. Maybe it'll be a skill that he can hone with Shawn Slocum, but for now, it's not something he looks very natural at and he was manhandled by Quinn Bailey and Billy McGehee in one-on-one pass rushing drills.
On that note, there was still no Kalen Ballage rushing the practice after he spent some time doing it last week. Graham said after practice that there's no doubt Ballage spends some time rushing the passer during the season, though.
With Sam on the line of scrimmage, the defense experimented with James Johnson playing up on the line of scrimmage and lining up against slot receivers. That allowed Marcus Ball to drop back some at Spur and gave Jordan Simone more of a center-fielder role in the secondary.
Johnson was up and down in the role and had some solid coverage, but also had some struggles. When Johnson wasn't up against the slot receivers, it was Chad Adams, who might have a future there.
Adams is falling out of the safety rotation, due mostly to the strong play of Dasmond Tautalatasi, but he looked more natural in the slot. He had a mostly strong day with the exception of his time against Ellis Jefferson, who had a very solid day.
Jefferson stood out more than any other receiver, while guys like Eric Lauderdale and Jalen Harvey had underwhelming showings on Tuesday.
The stars of the day on offense were the starting offensive line, who did a very good job at keeping Mike Bercovici clean for the most part and dominated in pass rushing drills. The pair of Sam Jones and Billy McGehee continue to look very strong, and even now that Evan Goodman is back from injury, I don't think he'll be seeing some first-team snaps any time soon.
The three turnovers of the day were all somewhat fluky. Two were passes from Wilkins that bounced off the hands of receivers, Lauderdale and Ty Whiley, into the arms of Ronald Lewis and Tautalatasi, respectively. The third was a sack/forced fumble by Edmond Boateng, who batted a ball out of the hand of Bercovici right as he was prepping to throw. Graham wasn't happy about the defensive end endangering the starting quarterback's arm like that and let Boateng know.
My favorite thing to watch in practice recently has been the 8 vs. 8 battle on the outside when D.J. Foster goes against Lloyd Carrington. Foster absolutely smoked Carrington at the line of scrimmage on one play when Lloyd tried to jam him, and it would've been an easy touchdown if Wilkins was looking left.
Carrington got his revenge later when Foster had a touchdown in the back of the end zone knocked out of his hands at the last possible second. There's no doubt that they are two of the leaders of the team and it's fun to watch the two go to battle.
Some final notes, I counted 28 flame helmets and it was still Bercovici, Johnson and Carrington in the PT42 camo jerseys. Mo Latu, Laiu Moeakiola, Armand Perry, Chans Cox, Vi Teofilo, Cam Smith, Kweishi Brown, Christian Westerman, Jamal Scott, Antonio Longino and Dasmond Tautalatasi were in green.
Jaelen Strong and Derek Hagan showed up near the end of practice, but JoJo Wicker was there from start to finish and stayed pretty close to the defensive lineman for all of practice. He had some discussions with Graham, Mo Latu, Demetrius Cherry and Jackie Shipp while he watched.
Some other visitors were
2016 RB Isaiah Gilchrist (Bellevue, WA)
https://sports.yahoo.com/footballrecruiting/football/recruiting/player-Isaiah-Gilchrist-156138
2017 OT Cody Kanouse (Peninsula H.S., Gig Harbor, Wash.)
http://www.hudl.com/athlete/2714863/cody-kanouse
