It was probably only fitting that the first spring practice in pads would take place in classic football weather, cloudy skies mid '60s with some breezes and even a drizzle of rain at times.
Less congested in terms of local recruits checking out practice probably because schools are back in session after spring break. Former player Brock Osweiler was in attendance.
Wide receiver Zeek Freeman who was recovering from off-season injury saw his first action today since practice began.
First group:
QB: Drew Pyne
RB: Cam Skattebo
TE: Messiah Swinson WR: Elijah Badger
WR: Xavier Guillory
WR: Melquan Stovall
Offensive line from left to right: Isaia Glass, Danny Valenzuela, Leif Fautanu, Joey Ramos, Max Iheanachor
Second group:
QB: Trenton Bourguet
RB George Hall
TE Jalin Conyers
WR Chand Johnson Jr.
WR Gio Sanders
WR Shawn Charles
Offensive line from left to right: Bram Walden, Ralph Frias, Ben Bray, Thomas LeBoucher/Austin Barry, Emmit Bohle.
No surprise to see the intensity and energy level which honestly was already high in the first week of spring to kick up a good few notches now that the pads came on. Needless to say that these are the type of sessions where you get to see exactly where you at with the running backs and I continue to be very impressed by Cam Skattebo who I have to imagine with his running style was the salivating to put on the pads. He's plenty physical bouncing off tackles left and right and as I mentioned previously has underrated speed to run away from tacklers. I guess it goes to show you that an elite player at the FCS level can still be a formidable player at the power 5 level. Sure, we're ways away from the season opener and we'll see how he performs when the lights are on but I think he is definitely building a solid foundation more and more. Overall while I thought all the running backs did perform fairly well it’s just that Skattebo was standing out more than the rest.
Wide receivers looked solid up and down the lineup and I thought the by and large the quarterbacks especially Drew Pyne and Trenton Bourguet (which today marked the first time he was participating in team segments as well) we're mostly accurate with a throws. Today's the first time we actually saw Melquan Stovall drop a ball and honestly that throw may have been a tough one to catch.
In team segments it was very encouraging to see the insistence of Kenny Dillingham in making sure that the offense operates correctly and in two segments he did penalize the offense for delay of game before they were even were able to begin the segment just trying to get them in the mindset that they have to duplicate game situations in practice so they will be crisp on Saturdays.
The competitive aspect of practices was coming in the form where Dillingham would set the rule that if the offense gets two first downs it wins the segment and if the defense is able to prevent that then they would win the segment.
With Pyne running the offense and Tevin While at running back (He was mostly running second group today) White tacked probably a good 20 yards after the catch to get the first down and later on Pyne found Conyers for another first down to win that segment.
Another segment challenged the offense to now get three first downs to win. And while it started with good plays on defense from Travion Brown stuffing George Hall and Macen Williams initially preventing Xavier Guillory from reaching the sticks, This was followed by two first down passes by Pyne to Guillory. And the third first down that won the offense another segment was achieved on a fourth and one where Tevin While was able to move the chains.
Not all the team segments were won by the offense and a run stuff by Willie Harts and adequate pressure from the defensive line on third down did lead to one defensive victory out of, with the second taking place when it was 2's on 2's and some bad snaps from Ben Bray put Trenton Bourguet in an impossible situation to make a play. He was also sacked on one play by BJ Green.
Bennett Meredith didn't fare too well in his own segment, with James Djonkham’s big run stop on DeCarlos Brooks was a significant reason for that. Yet, Brooks I felt is coming as advertised in terms of being that classic third down back who is certainly a solid wide receiver out of the backfield.
The "arena segment" , is the one that gets introduced WWE style and has the team very close to the play instead on their respective sidelines. It was a third and one situation which got played out five times.
The first rep saw Tristan Monday stuff the run, But Skattebo twice, as well as White and Brooks were able to get that first down, marking just one more solid showing by the offense on Tuesday.
Little harder trying to follow the one-on-ones because they split the quarterbacks and the wide receivers/tight ends on each half of the field but from what I observed it was a segment where both Bourguet and Jaden Rashada were mostly on the money. Wide receiver Sean Charles has been getting a decent run at second team did stand out in this session as well as tight end Ryan Morgan. Meredith was intercepted by Tarik Luckett.
In the 7-on-7 segment with Pyne at quarterback, he had a hard time finding open receivers as Will Shaffer, Ro Torrence and Jordan Clark all had pass breakups but he also completed passes to Guillory, Messiah Swinson and Coben Bourguet. All other quarterbacks were performing better with a higher rate of success connecting with their receivers.
Players who lined up at kick return were:
Javen Jacobs
Melquan Stovall
Gio Sanders
Tony Omiere
Less congested in terms of local recruits checking out practice probably because schools are back in session after spring break. Former player Brock Osweiler was in attendance.
Wide receiver Zeek Freeman who was recovering from off-season injury saw his first action today since practice began.
First group:
QB: Drew Pyne
RB: Cam Skattebo
TE: Messiah Swinson WR: Elijah Badger
WR: Xavier Guillory
WR: Melquan Stovall
Offensive line from left to right: Isaia Glass, Danny Valenzuela, Leif Fautanu, Joey Ramos, Max Iheanachor
Second group:
QB: Trenton Bourguet
RB George Hall
TE Jalin Conyers
WR Chand Johnson Jr.
WR Gio Sanders
WR Shawn Charles
Offensive line from left to right: Bram Walden, Ralph Frias, Ben Bray, Thomas LeBoucher/Austin Barry, Emmit Bohle.
No surprise to see the intensity and energy level which honestly was already high in the first week of spring to kick up a good few notches now that the pads came on. Needless to say that these are the type of sessions where you get to see exactly where you at with the running backs and I continue to be very impressed by Cam Skattebo who I have to imagine with his running style was the salivating to put on the pads. He's plenty physical bouncing off tackles left and right and as I mentioned previously has underrated speed to run away from tacklers. I guess it goes to show you that an elite player at the FCS level can still be a formidable player at the power 5 level. Sure, we're ways away from the season opener and we'll see how he performs when the lights are on but I think he is definitely building a solid foundation more and more. Overall while I thought all the running backs did perform fairly well it’s just that Skattebo was standing out more than the rest.
Wide receivers looked solid up and down the lineup and I thought the by and large the quarterbacks especially Drew Pyne and Trenton Bourguet (which today marked the first time he was participating in team segments as well) we're mostly accurate with a throws. Today's the first time we actually saw Melquan Stovall drop a ball and honestly that throw may have been a tough one to catch.
In team segments it was very encouraging to see the insistence of Kenny Dillingham in making sure that the offense operates correctly and in two segments he did penalize the offense for delay of game before they were even were able to begin the segment just trying to get them in the mindset that they have to duplicate game situations in practice so they will be crisp on Saturdays.
The competitive aspect of practices was coming in the form where Dillingham would set the rule that if the offense gets two first downs it wins the segment and if the defense is able to prevent that then they would win the segment.
With Pyne running the offense and Tevin While at running back (He was mostly running second group today) White tacked probably a good 20 yards after the catch to get the first down and later on Pyne found Conyers for another first down to win that segment.
Another segment challenged the offense to now get three first downs to win. And while it started with good plays on defense from Travion Brown stuffing George Hall and Macen Williams initially preventing Xavier Guillory from reaching the sticks, This was followed by two first down passes by Pyne to Guillory. And the third first down that won the offense another segment was achieved on a fourth and one where Tevin While was able to move the chains.
Not all the team segments were won by the offense and a run stuff by Willie Harts and adequate pressure from the defensive line on third down did lead to one defensive victory out of, with the second taking place when it was 2's on 2's and some bad snaps from Ben Bray put Trenton Bourguet in an impossible situation to make a play. He was also sacked on one play by BJ Green.
Bennett Meredith didn't fare too well in his own segment, with James Djonkham’s big run stop on DeCarlos Brooks was a significant reason for that. Yet, Brooks I felt is coming as advertised in terms of being that classic third down back who is certainly a solid wide receiver out of the backfield.
The "arena segment" , is the one that gets introduced WWE style and has the team very close to the play instead on their respective sidelines. It was a third and one situation which got played out five times.
The first rep saw Tristan Monday stuff the run, But Skattebo twice, as well as White and Brooks were able to get that first down, marking just one more solid showing by the offense on Tuesday.
Little harder trying to follow the one-on-ones because they split the quarterbacks and the wide receivers/tight ends on each half of the field but from what I observed it was a segment where both Bourguet and Jaden Rashada were mostly on the money. Wide receiver Sean Charles has been getting a decent run at second team did stand out in this session as well as tight end Ryan Morgan. Meredith was intercepted by Tarik Luckett.
In the 7-on-7 segment with Pyne at quarterback, he had a hard time finding open receivers as Will Shaffer, Ro Torrence and Jordan Clark all had pass breakups but he also completed passes to Guillory, Messiah Swinson and Coben Bourguet. All other quarterbacks were performing better with a higher rate of success connecting with their receivers.
Players who lined up at kick return were:
Javen Jacobs
Melquan Stovall
Gio Sanders
Tony Omiere
