It's hot and getting hotter in Tempe, and Tuesday morning was another warm morning at the Kajikawa Practice Fields.
One of the first notes I took when practice got started was that Edmond Boateng looked like he was bumped to the second-team defensive line to make way for Renell Wren. In fact, Boateng was the only player from the first-team defensive line that kept his spot.
Demetrius Cherry, Tashon Smallwood, Ismael Murphy-Richardson, Salamo Fiso and Antonio Longino all worked with the second-team on Tuesday and made way for Emanuel Dayries, Ami Latu, A.J. Latu, Christian Sam and D.J. Calhoun to get first-team reps instead.
I wouldn't make too much of the changes for right now, but it was interesting to see Boateng and Marcus Ball be the only ones in the front seven to stay with the first team for each of the first two days.
The entire lineups for 11-on-11 drills were as follows:
1st Team
DL: Edmond Boateng (DE), Emanuel Dayries (NOSE), Ami Latu (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), Demetrius Cherry (NOSE), Tashon Smallwood (TIGER), Ismael Murphy-Richardson (DEVIL)
LB: Antonio Longino (WILL), Salamo Fiso (SAM), Carlos Mendoza (SPUR)
DB: Solomon Means (Field CB), Ronald Lewis (Boundary CB), DeAndre Scott (Bandit S), Chad Adams (Free S)
Nothing in the secondary changed from Monday, but the front seven was almost completely rotated with the exception of Boateng and Ball. Carlos Mendoza's time at SPUR was another change after he spent his first day of spring practice at WILL. With Longino and Calhoun creating for some good competition at WILL, it was probably a waste of time for Mendoza to try to earn reps there, and with Laiu Moeakiola still sidelined, he can earn some time behind Marcus Ball at SPUR.
Nothing much changed on the injury front, as it was still Moeakiola, Chans Cox, Mo Latu, Armand Perry and Jamal Scott in green jerseys. Ezekiel Bishop and Eriquel Florence also wore green on Tuesday and worked at muscle beach. Jordan Simone is still wearing gold and said after practice that he won't participate in contact drills for the rest of spring.
The secondary spent most of the day working on the far side of the practice field and that included most of the linebacking corps for the majority of the day too, so most of my day was dedicated to observing the defensive line's work with Coach Jackie Shipp.
Shipp isn't an easy coach to make happy, and if a player does something well, they'll generally get little more than a satisfactory nod of approval. Generally though, Shipp has something to say about improvements that could be made on just about every rep.
For Cherry, much of the focus from Shipp was on better use of his hands. Early in the day, Shipp told the nose tackle to keep his hands inside and play with leverage rather than keep his elbows bowed out to the side. Cherry had to do up-downs later in the practice despite torching Tyler McClure in one-on-one pass rushing drills. Cherry just over-powered the young lineman with a quick first step, and Shipp demanded that he rip through the blocks his hands better rather than rely on things he's already good at.
While Shipp asked that Cherry dominate with something more than just a good first step, he has spent much of the first two days of practice emphasizing exactly that. Burst off the line of scrimmage and correctly lunging forward has been a focal point for Shipp.
Renell Wren received a few critiques from Shipp for playing too upright. "Get your butt down!" was a frequent saying from Shipp on Tuesday, and during swim drills on the bags, he told Wren not to lean back and to instead keep his shoulders forward.
The star of the day for the defensive line was Boateng, who excelled in his second day with the first team. On a day in which the defense recorded five sacks and nine tackles for loss against the offense, at least two of the sacks were from Boateng.
Still, Shipp told Boateng to focus on attacking half of the opposing lineman rather than squaring them up. Shipp told the defensive end that he has a bad habit of running straight at a lineman rather than picking a shoulder to go through.
In one-on-one pass rushing drills, Murphy-Richardson stood out with one edge rush that left new coach Shawn Slocum happy with the Devilbacker. He beat Jack Powers around the edge with a swim move, and was complimented by Slocum for his hand fighting and timing with the move.
Overall, it was a successful day for the defense that had the offense's number for the majority of the day. One of the only big plays for the offense was a touchdown pass from Mike Bercovici to Frederick Gammage, but Kweishi Brown either slipped on the play or was pushed down by Gammage to free up some room.
One of the first notes I took when practice got started was that Edmond Boateng looked like he was bumped to the second-team defensive line to make way for Renell Wren. In fact, Boateng was the only player from the first-team defensive line that kept his spot.
Demetrius Cherry, Tashon Smallwood, Ismael Murphy-Richardson, Salamo Fiso and Antonio Longino all worked with the second-team on Tuesday and made way for Emanuel Dayries, Ami Latu, A.J. Latu, Christian Sam and D.J. Calhoun to get first-team reps instead.
I wouldn't make too much of the changes for right now, but it was interesting to see Boateng and Marcus Ball be the only ones in the front seven to stay with the first team for each of the first two days.
The entire lineups for 11-on-11 drills were as follows:
1st Team
DL: Edmond Boateng (DE), Emanuel Dayries (NOSE), Ami Latu (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), Demetrius Cherry (NOSE), Tashon Smallwood (TIGER), Ismael Murphy-Richardson (DEVIL)
LB: Antonio Longino (WILL), Salamo Fiso (SAM), Carlos Mendoza (SPUR)
DB: Solomon Means (Field CB), Ronald Lewis (Boundary CB), DeAndre Scott (Bandit S), Chad Adams (Free S)
Nothing in the secondary changed from Monday, but the front seven was almost completely rotated with the exception of Boateng and Ball. Carlos Mendoza's time at SPUR was another change after he spent his first day of spring practice at WILL. With Longino and Calhoun creating for some good competition at WILL, it was probably a waste of time for Mendoza to try to earn reps there, and with Laiu Moeakiola still sidelined, he can earn some time behind Marcus Ball at SPUR.
Nothing much changed on the injury front, as it was still Moeakiola, Chans Cox, Mo Latu, Armand Perry and Jamal Scott in green jerseys. Ezekiel Bishop and Eriquel Florence also wore green on Tuesday and worked at muscle beach. Jordan Simone is still wearing gold and said after practice that he won't participate in contact drills for the rest of spring.
The secondary spent most of the day working on the far side of the practice field and that included most of the linebacking corps for the majority of the day too, so most of my day was dedicated to observing the defensive line's work with Coach Jackie Shipp.
Shipp isn't an easy coach to make happy, and if a player does something well, they'll generally get little more than a satisfactory nod of approval. Generally though, Shipp has something to say about improvements that could be made on just about every rep.
For Cherry, much of the focus from Shipp was on better use of his hands. Early in the day, Shipp told the nose tackle to keep his hands inside and play with leverage rather than keep his elbows bowed out to the side. Cherry had to do up-downs later in the practice despite torching Tyler McClure in one-on-one pass rushing drills. Cherry just over-powered the young lineman with a quick first step, and Shipp demanded that he rip through the blocks his hands better rather than rely on things he's already good at.
While Shipp asked that Cherry dominate with something more than just a good first step, he has spent much of the first two days of practice emphasizing exactly that. Burst off the line of scrimmage and correctly lunging forward has been a focal point for Shipp.
Renell Wren received a few critiques from Shipp for playing too upright. "Get your butt down!" was a frequent saying from Shipp on Tuesday, and during swim drills on the bags, he told Wren not to lean back and to instead keep his shoulders forward.
The star of the day for the defensive line was Boateng, who excelled in his second day with the first team. On a day in which the defense recorded five sacks and nine tackles for loss against the offense, at least two of the sacks were from Boateng.
Still, Shipp told Boateng to focus on attacking half of the opposing lineman rather than squaring them up. Shipp told the defensive end that he has a bad habit of running straight at a lineman rather than picking a shoulder to go through.
In one-on-one pass rushing drills, Murphy-Richardson stood out with one edge rush that left new coach Shawn Slocum happy with the Devilbacker. He beat Jack Powers around the edge with a swim move, and was complimented by Slocum for his hand fighting and timing with the move.
Overall, it was a successful day for the defense that had the offense's number for the majority of the day. One of the only big plays for the offense was a touchdown pass from Mike Bercovici to Frederick Gammage, but Kweishi Brown either slipped on the play or was pushed down by Gammage to free up some room.
