Ahlibobwa’s Practice Musings 8-15:
So, today it was extremely hard to see the field, as they had us all herded behind a fence into once corner of the field like sheep. Also, the BTN guys disappeared as soon as practice ended, which was disappointing. In past years I have been able to talk to the BTN guys a bit. Because of the difficult viewing aspect of this practice, I decided to dispense with my normal position by position breakdown. Instead, I tracked every drill and nearly every rep throughout the practice and I have recreated those here with some of my feelings about players. Will be honest, this was the hardest practice to evaluate so I just had to row through it the best I could.
‘Team’ refers to 11 on 11
‘7 on 7’ is everybody but the linemen.
Most people know this, but figured it was worth mentioning in case it helps anybody.
**Team Session**
—Howden gets stop on short completion to BSF
—Tre Potts stopped cold on a run
—Tre Potts nice gain
**FG**
Kick no good for Trickett, unsure of yardage but not deep
Athan short completion Geary
Kesich FG try good medium yardage
Trickett FG try good. Another try from there also good
Kesich good
Deeper FG try now: Trickett good
Mid range: Trickett good
Kesich attempt blocked but unsure who got it
**Position Break Out Session**
Simon teaching WRs to keep hips Square during side to side to side drill where they fake outside, but go straight up field (they practice faking to both sides in turn before cutting upfield) Simon is really hands on and is giving feedback all the time in these drills. WRs and linemen sometimes use an overhead tarp to make sure they explode low out of their stances. If they come out too high they hit their heads
All 3 QBs accurate in early uncontested patterns to WRs in eluding on uncontested deep balls. Athan threw a couple short that were completed but the WRs had to drastically adjust their routes. Ciarocca preaching at WRs to ‘get vertical’ quickly on deep routes. Particularly pretty deep ball from Tanner to Wright where Dylan showed his impressive acceleration. Tanner insanely sharp early
**WR/DB drill without a ball:
—Haynes getting on Beanie Bishop for his hip adjustment on a rep he got beat. Haynes exacting in his coaching.
—Hoskins just torched Bishop on a rep and showed insane acceleration doing so. Dude’s burst is unbelievable. I know he’s young and raw but I say redshirt Hoskins this year. It’ll take awhile to refine his game, but his athleticism is otherworldly.
—Bishop nice jam on MBS so not all bad for the Western Kentucky transfer
—Walley doing a nice job on Wright in these drills
—Cade Conzemius got Walley on a rep right after I had the previous thought. Impressive burst from the progeny of the fargo flash
Wright absolutley knocked the stuffing out of Stapp, planted him on his ass and a few people whooped and hollered including yours truly
**Team section**
—First run stuffed cold
—Nice 15 yard completion to CAB down the middle
—Mo doesn’t wanna stop when the whistle blows. Mo is ready for real contact
—Athan complete to a wide open Brockington. Nice route by him
Nubin getting a lot of snaps at RB. Coaches trying to prevent injury so they are blowing the whistle so early on run plays can be hard to determine if the O or D won the rep.
—Tanner nice 12 yard slant to MBS.
—Tanner first bad throw behind Wright who was blanketed by T-Time. Possible tanner was throwing it away to avoid the coverage?
It’s august and I’m already sick of Crawford’s end over end punting style. Much prefer when he just hits spirals. I get that the end over end is for directional punting but damn it’s ugly. But I guess as long as it works who cares, right?
Shamburger got backup punting reps, and I’m gonna say that if Crawford goes down we are win big trouble. The Aussie needs to be kept in bubble wrap outside of practices and games. I do not want to see Shamburger playing outside garbage time.
**7 on 7**
—DBs get coverage stop first rep. Really good coverage across the board
—Second incomplete broken up by Howden. DBs salty early in practice today.
—Third pass incomplete again great coverage. You can tell it’s later in camp and the DBs know the offensive route trees well
—Nubin pick six on 4th rep. Defense goes bananas. 1st team Defense absolutely obliterates the First team offense in first series of 7 on 7. Serious break on the ball and burst from the senior on this play. Impressive stuff.
Don’t get too worried though. I would say overall the offense had a slight edge this practice in the team portions. But for whatever reason the defense dominated 7 on 7. As I stated before, I would argue 7 on 7 is tough on the offense once by this time in camp
Kramer first crack at second team reps in 7 on 7 whereas Athan got first shot at 1st team reps in team. However, Athan got more reps than Kramer overall which makes me suspect he has the edge in the backup race.
—Kramer nice completion mid range not sure who to
—Athan throw into great coverage Wright diving juggling fighting catch. No idea how Wright caught that was amazing.
—Athan misses CAB deep but Stapp had great coverage even if it was a good pass. Of course, against CAB that doesn’t always matter as he wins lots of contested balls
**Team** (harder to see as players are standing in our way)
—OLine nice hole for Mo, could have been big if they weren’t blowing stuff dead at first near contact
—Tanner completion to Potts
—Kramer fools D on fake handoff keeper
Kickoff team: Wenger coaching on loudspeaker. A short session, but Wenger fit a lot of coaching into it. Coverage teams have been good so this seems like an area that should be a strength (coverage teams, not special teams overall where the jury is out).
**Team**
—Tanner beautiful crossing route to wide open BSF
—Tanner completion to CAB with Smith draped all over him. Good coverage, better throw and catch
—D gets good rush and Tanner is forced into short sideline throw to BSF
—Tanner amazing throw to streaking MBS as he was climbing the pocket. Incredibly athletic
play. I legit didn’t think Tanner had the athleticism to throw a frozen rope while climbing the pocket like that. Tanner’s pocket presence has been markedly improved this camp, imo. It’s exciting to see.
—Athan throws into double coverage and it’s broken up
—Athan nice pass to Dino
—Athan completion to CAB
—Kramer swing pass to Potts stopped cold
—Athan bad miss deep
—Athan completion slant Conzemius (Conzemius quickly becoming my fav walk on frosh)
Great hole on outside zone for long Max Grand run! Max Grand had a lot of family there and came over to take pics with them after practice. Team grand excited about how Max played today.
Knuth overthrows Disano on easy pass
**Team**
—Thomas Rush strong move for a sack. Mr. Rush lived up to his name on this rep I will tell you that.
—Defense good coverage forces Morgan to scramble short gain
—Tanner avoids Jah Joyner rush in his face and makes impressive screen pass to Mo. I am amazed the way Tanner can fit balls through small windows when giant defenders are bearing down on him.
—Athan rolls to his right nice throw to wide open clay Geary on a deep out route
—D good push stops Bryce Williams in backfield Jefferies and Joyner leading charge
—D another good stuff on Jordan Nubin. Incidentally, the younger Nubin is clearly the top PWO RB and he appears to be #4 in the pecking order behind Mo, Tre, and Bryce.
—Oliver chases Athan down. Whistle blown early but would have been a sack I think. Oliver can scoot.
**FG**
—Trickett deep try right down the middle good
—Kesich same spot also good
O and D split up to run plays against a skeleton D who isn’t actually contesting them. More of a run through of different plays than a competitive exercise.
PJ Fleck then did an entire segment of practice on a half field around the corner of the building where nobody in the crowd could see. Sounded like some kind of team portion so extra annoying we couldn’t see it. I guess they had to make the BTN crew feel special with exclusive access (snark).
Next section as narrated by a screaming PJ Fleck:
‘The ball is the program. The ball, the ball, the ball!’
One drill: take two quick steps forward, juke around a couple bags, ran under a hurdle and then a coach rakes at the ball with a boxing glove on the end of a stick.
Old fashioned run as guys hit you with dummies drill. Guys spinning off the first two dummies, run through the next two dummies, then juke around a yellow trash can manned by a coach who ‘commits’ to one side or the other which signals the player to go the other way
After foam rollers and stretching, Tanner stayed late to throw balls to BSF. They weren’t running full speed but were working on endzone fade stuff
Music I noticed today:
‘Ballin’ mustard and roddy rich
‘Danger Zone’ Kenny Loggins
’Tsunami’ DVBBS &N Borgeous
‘Under Pressure’ Queen (FG attempts only per usual)
The DBs and WRs really competed today. Was impressed by what I saw out of both groups. Again, this was the hardest practice to glean information from, but I think this is a good football team. I was sorry it was so tough to see as I wasn’t able to see much from LOS players.
So, today it was extremely hard to see the field, as they had us all herded behind a fence into once corner of the field like sheep. Also, the BTN guys disappeared as soon as practice ended, which was disappointing. In past years I have been able to talk to the BTN guys a bit. Because of the difficult viewing aspect of this practice, I decided to dispense with my normal position by position breakdown. Instead, I tracked every drill and nearly every rep throughout the practice and I have recreated those here with some of my feelings about players. Will be honest, this was the hardest practice to evaluate so I just had to row through it the best I could.
‘Team’ refers to 11 on 11
‘7 on 7’ is everybody but the linemen.
Most people know this, but figured it was worth mentioning in case it helps anybody.
**Team Session**
—Howden gets stop on short completion to BSF
—Tre Potts stopped cold on a run
—Tre Potts nice gain
**FG**
Kick no good for Trickett, unsure of yardage but not deep
Athan short completion Geary
Kesich FG try good medium yardage
Trickett FG try good. Another try from there also good
Kesich good
Deeper FG try now: Trickett good
Mid range: Trickett good
Kesich attempt blocked but unsure who got it
**Position Break Out Session**
Simon teaching WRs to keep hips Square during side to side to side drill where they fake outside, but go straight up field (they practice faking to both sides in turn before cutting upfield) Simon is really hands on and is giving feedback all the time in these drills. WRs and linemen sometimes use an overhead tarp to make sure they explode low out of their stances. If they come out too high they hit their heads
All 3 QBs accurate in early uncontested patterns to WRs in eluding on uncontested deep balls. Athan threw a couple short that were completed but the WRs had to drastically adjust their routes. Ciarocca preaching at WRs to ‘get vertical’ quickly on deep routes. Particularly pretty deep ball from Tanner to Wright where Dylan showed his impressive acceleration. Tanner insanely sharp early
**WR/DB drill without a ball:
—Haynes getting on Beanie Bishop for his hip adjustment on a rep he got beat. Haynes exacting in his coaching.
—Hoskins just torched Bishop on a rep and showed insane acceleration doing so. Dude’s burst is unbelievable. I know he’s young and raw but I say redshirt Hoskins this year. It’ll take awhile to refine his game, but his athleticism is otherworldly.
—Bishop nice jam on MBS so not all bad for the Western Kentucky transfer
—Walley doing a nice job on Wright in these drills
—Cade Conzemius got Walley on a rep right after I had the previous thought. Impressive burst from the progeny of the fargo flash
Wright absolutley knocked the stuffing out of Stapp, planted him on his ass and a few people whooped and hollered including yours truly
**Team section**
—First run stuffed cold
—Nice 15 yard completion to CAB down the middle
—Mo doesn’t wanna stop when the whistle blows. Mo is ready for real contact
—Athan complete to a wide open Brockington. Nice route by him
Nubin getting a lot of snaps at RB. Coaches trying to prevent injury so they are blowing the whistle so early on run plays can be hard to determine if the O or D won the rep.
—Tanner nice 12 yard slant to MBS.
—Tanner first bad throw behind Wright who was blanketed by T-Time. Possible tanner was throwing it away to avoid the coverage?
It’s august and I’m already sick of Crawford’s end over end punting style. Much prefer when he just hits spirals. I get that the end over end is for directional punting but damn it’s ugly. But I guess as long as it works who cares, right?
Shamburger got backup punting reps, and I’m gonna say that if Crawford goes down we are win big trouble. The Aussie needs to be kept in bubble wrap outside of practices and games. I do not want to see Shamburger playing outside garbage time.
**7 on 7**
—DBs get coverage stop first rep. Really good coverage across the board
—Second incomplete broken up by Howden. DBs salty early in practice today.
—Third pass incomplete again great coverage. You can tell it’s later in camp and the DBs know the offensive route trees well
—Nubin pick six on 4th rep. Defense goes bananas. 1st team Defense absolutely obliterates the First team offense in first series of 7 on 7. Serious break on the ball and burst from the senior on this play. Impressive stuff.
Don’t get too worried though. I would say overall the offense had a slight edge this practice in the team portions. But for whatever reason the defense dominated 7 on 7. As I stated before, I would argue 7 on 7 is tough on the offense once by this time in camp
Kramer first crack at second team reps in 7 on 7 whereas Athan got first shot at 1st team reps in team. However, Athan got more reps than Kramer overall which makes me suspect he has the edge in the backup race.
—Kramer nice completion mid range not sure who to
—Athan throw into great coverage Wright diving juggling fighting catch. No idea how Wright caught that was amazing.
—Athan misses CAB deep but Stapp had great coverage even if it was a good pass. Of course, against CAB that doesn’t always matter as he wins lots of contested balls
**Team** (harder to see as players are standing in our way)
—OLine nice hole for Mo, could have been big if they weren’t blowing stuff dead at first near contact
—Tanner completion to Potts
—Kramer fools D on fake handoff keeper
Kickoff team: Wenger coaching on loudspeaker. A short session, but Wenger fit a lot of coaching into it. Coverage teams have been good so this seems like an area that should be a strength (coverage teams, not special teams overall where the jury is out).
**Team**
—Tanner beautiful crossing route to wide open BSF
—Tanner completion to CAB with Smith draped all over him. Good coverage, better throw and catch
—D gets good rush and Tanner is forced into short sideline throw to BSF
—Tanner amazing throw to streaking MBS as he was climbing the pocket. Incredibly athletic
play. I legit didn’t think Tanner had the athleticism to throw a frozen rope while climbing the pocket like that. Tanner’s pocket presence has been markedly improved this camp, imo. It’s exciting to see.
—Athan throws into double coverage and it’s broken up
—Athan nice pass to Dino
—Athan completion to CAB
—Kramer swing pass to Potts stopped cold
—Athan bad miss deep
—Athan completion slant Conzemius (Conzemius quickly becoming my fav walk on frosh)
Great hole on outside zone for long Max Grand run! Max Grand had a lot of family there and came over to take pics with them after practice. Team grand excited about how Max played today.
Knuth overthrows Disano on easy pass
**Team**
—Thomas Rush strong move for a sack. Mr. Rush lived up to his name on this rep I will tell you that.
—Defense good coverage forces Morgan to scramble short gain
—Tanner avoids Jah Joyner rush in his face and makes impressive screen pass to Mo. I am amazed the way Tanner can fit balls through small windows when giant defenders are bearing down on him.
—Athan rolls to his right nice throw to wide open clay Geary on a deep out route
—D good push stops Bryce Williams in backfield Jefferies and Joyner leading charge
—D another good stuff on Jordan Nubin. Incidentally, the younger Nubin is clearly the top PWO RB and he appears to be #4 in the pecking order behind Mo, Tre, and Bryce.
—Oliver chases Athan down. Whistle blown early but would have been a sack I think. Oliver can scoot.
**FG**
—Trickett deep try right down the middle good
—Kesich same spot also good
O and D split up to run plays against a skeleton D who isn’t actually contesting them. More of a run through of different plays than a competitive exercise.
PJ Fleck then did an entire segment of practice on a half field around the corner of the building where nobody in the crowd could see. Sounded like some kind of team portion so extra annoying we couldn’t see it. I guess they had to make the BTN crew feel special with exclusive access (snark).
Next section as narrated by a screaming PJ Fleck:
‘The ball is the program. The ball, the ball, the ball!’
One drill: take two quick steps forward, juke around a couple bags, ran under a hurdle and then a coach rakes at the ball with a boxing glove on the end of a stick.
Old fashioned run as guys hit you with dummies drill. Guys spinning off the first two dummies, run through the next two dummies, then juke around a yellow trash can manned by a coach who ‘commits’ to one side or the other which signals the player to go the other way
After foam rollers and stretching, Tanner stayed late to throw balls to BSF. They weren’t running full speed but were working on endzone fade stuff
Music I noticed today:
‘Ballin’ mustard and roddy rich
‘Danger Zone’ Kenny Loggins
’Tsunami’ DVBBS &N Borgeous
‘Under Pressure’ Queen (FG attempts only per usual)
The DBs and WRs really competed today. Was impressed by what I saw out of both groups. Again, this was the hardest practice to glean information from, but I think this is a good football team. I was sorry it was so tough to see as I wasn’t able to see much from LOS players.
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