No recruits at today’s practice that I saw.
Isaiah Gentry and Matt Morse were in orange jerseys. Cody Poock and Eric Carter were also out.
DeMarcus Williams had a great day. Not all of his balls look pretty, but they were getting to the intended target. In a two-minute drill, he picked up about 50 or 60 yards in just 40 seconds. He threw a perfect strike to Ko Kieft for a 20-30 yard gain and near touchdown. Williams has great poise and looks very comfortable in the pocket. His performance today was very encouraging.0 I’m looking forward to watching him at the scrimmage.
Seth Green looked confident and made several nice throws. He knows where he wants to go with the ball and looked better than the last open practice. Green connected with Tyler Johnson and others a couple times. He did well splitting zones. During the skeleton part of practice, he hit Drew Wolitarksy in-stride from about 20 yards out, over Drew’s shoulder where the defender couldn’t get it.
Mitch Leidner had a good day, with the only real bad pass that sticks out in mind being a forced pass to the flats that was easily jumped and picked off by Damarius Travis. Rashad Still then made a play and stripped the ball from Travis.
Demry Croft was accurate running the two-minute drill. Conor Rhoda had an up-and-down day.
There wasn’t tackling today, so there’s not a lot to report on that’s not already known with the running backs. Kobe McCrary impressed with his pass blocking. James Johannesson still might have a ways to go in terms of blocking. He doesn’t seem to pick up blitzes as well as Rodney Smith and Kobe McCrary yet. McCrary also looked good catching passes. The QBs looked to him quite a bit when they were under pressure.
With Eric Carter out, Brian Smith got reps with the first team throughout practice, although he dropped several passes. He runs decent routes and has good size and speed, but we’ll see if he sticks with the first team tomorrow after today’s drops. Drew Wolitarsky, James Johannesson, and Rashad Still also all dropped passes they should have had today. Still’s drop was over the middle and almost led to a pick.
Tyler Johnson continues to look good. He just looks like a natural, even though he’s never played the position before. Johnson has long arms and thus a large catch radius, and he showed that off today hauling in a pass from Rhoda. He also caught a nice pass from Green.
Register’s routes look much crisper than last year.
The second team wide receiver group today was Melvin Holland, Adam Mayer, and Hunter Register. Mayer had a great catch over the middle from Croft. He stuck out last year at camp, too. I wouldn’t be surprised if he plays in the slot some this year when Carter needs a breather during the season.
Garrison Wright was practicing today (he was hurt before) and looked just fine. Donnell Greene was also on the field, but I didn’t see him play at all. He was probably just taking mental reps and getting accustomed to it all. The second team was Schlueter (LT), Olson (LG), Leidner (C), Weyler (RG), Oseland (RT), and they struggled a little bit, which should be expected since most of them are a year or two younger than their competition. Of the second team, Weyler looked best. Connor Olson has added some good weight. His position was up in the air heading into fall camp. I’m not sure if he’ll stick at guard or not, but that’s the only position I can remember him staying it through two practices.
Brandon Lingen was again held out today. Colton Beebe took more of his reps with the first team than last practice. Ko Kieft is playing tight end for the first time, but you wouldn’t necessarily know it. He had a couple nice passes today, including the catch from Williams mentioned above.
Vincent Calhoun looked good again today. The defensive tackles did well last practice, but there were times when Calhoun shut down Merrick Jackson and sometimes others today.
Steven Richardson was again working mostly with the second team and blowing everyone up. Winston DeLattiboudere and Jerry Gibson continue to do well rushing the passer. DeLattiboudere bull rushing Schlueter and Gibson getting by Oseland are two plays that stick out in my mind. The second team offensive line’s struggles made it tough for Demry to have much time to throw. He never had more than two seconds before he was trying to escape pressure.
With the linebackers, there’s only so much you can tell when they’re in shorts. Jon Celestin continues to impress and make plays in the backfield. Kamal Martin gets caught up in trash sometimes, but he can really run. He’s physical, too, which for some reason I wasn’t necessarily expecting from him. I didn’t see Carter Coughlin get any reps with the first team today. There was a play today when Rodney Smith tried to bounce a run outside and I think he was kind of surprised by Coughlin’s speed.
Kiondre Thomas didn’t work with the first team at all at the last open practice, but did so today and looked very good. Like most of you have seen on film, Thomas has good length, speed, and plays physical. He has excellent closing speed, as well. I’d definitely expect him to play this year.
KiAnte Hardin was shutting down the second team receivers. I’m sure it happened several times, but I don’t remember a single ball being thrown his way in the skeleton part of practice.
Kunle Ayinde worked with first team again. Duke McGhee impressed me, so we’ll see how much he pushes Ayinde for first team reps. He’s always impressed physically with his speed and big hitting ability, but today he also made a couple nice plays on the ball in the air.
To end the first team’s two minute drill (actually 1:30 minute drill), Emmit Carpenter missed a field goal. In the second (or maybe third) team’s two minute drill, Justin Juenemann nailed a 52-yard field goal that would have been good from another 5-10 yards out.
Isaiah Gentry and Matt Morse were in orange jerseys. Cody Poock and Eric Carter were also out.
DeMarcus Williams had a great day. Not all of his balls look pretty, but they were getting to the intended target. In a two-minute drill, he picked up about 50 or 60 yards in just 40 seconds. He threw a perfect strike to Ko Kieft for a 20-30 yard gain and near touchdown. Williams has great poise and looks very comfortable in the pocket. His performance today was very encouraging.0 I’m looking forward to watching him at the scrimmage.
Seth Green looked confident and made several nice throws. He knows where he wants to go with the ball and looked better than the last open practice. Green connected with Tyler Johnson and others a couple times. He did well splitting zones. During the skeleton part of practice, he hit Drew Wolitarksy in-stride from about 20 yards out, over Drew’s shoulder where the defender couldn’t get it.
Mitch Leidner had a good day, with the only real bad pass that sticks out in mind being a forced pass to the flats that was easily jumped and picked off by Damarius Travis. Rashad Still then made a play and stripped the ball from Travis.
Demry Croft was accurate running the two-minute drill. Conor Rhoda had an up-and-down day.
There wasn’t tackling today, so there’s not a lot to report on that’s not already known with the running backs. Kobe McCrary impressed with his pass blocking. James Johannesson still might have a ways to go in terms of blocking. He doesn’t seem to pick up blitzes as well as Rodney Smith and Kobe McCrary yet. McCrary also looked good catching passes. The QBs looked to him quite a bit when they were under pressure.
With Eric Carter out, Brian Smith got reps with the first team throughout practice, although he dropped several passes. He runs decent routes and has good size and speed, but we’ll see if he sticks with the first team tomorrow after today’s drops. Drew Wolitarsky, James Johannesson, and Rashad Still also all dropped passes they should have had today. Still’s drop was over the middle and almost led to a pick.
Tyler Johnson continues to look good. He just looks like a natural, even though he’s never played the position before. Johnson has long arms and thus a large catch radius, and he showed that off today hauling in a pass from Rhoda. He also caught a nice pass from Green.
Register’s routes look much crisper than last year.
The second team wide receiver group today was Melvin Holland, Adam Mayer, and Hunter Register. Mayer had a great catch over the middle from Croft. He stuck out last year at camp, too. I wouldn’t be surprised if he plays in the slot some this year when Carter needs a breather during the season.
Garrison Wright was practicing today (he was hurt before) and looked just fine. Donnell Greene was also on the field, but I didn’t see him play at all. He was probably just taking mental reps and getting accustomed to it all. The second team was Schlueter (LT), Olson (LG), Leidner (C), Weyler (RG), Oseland (RT), and they struggled a little bit, which should be expected since most of them are a year or two younger than their competition. Of the second team, Weyler looked best. Connor Olson has added some good weight. His position was up in the air heading into fall camp. I’m not sure if he’ll stick at guard or not, but that’s the only position I can remember him staying it through two practices.
Brandon Lingen was again held out today. Colton Beebe took more of his reps with the first team than last practice. Ko Kieft is playing tight end for the first time, but you wouldn’t necessarily know it. He had a couple nice passes today, including the catch from Williams mentioned above.
Vincent Calhoun looked good again today. The defensive tackles did well last practice, but there were times when Calhoun shut down Merrick Jackson and sometimes others today.
Steven Richardson was again working mostly with the second team and blowing everyone up. Winston DeLattiboudere and Jerry Gibson continue to do well rushing the passer. DeLattiboudere bull rushing Schlueter and Gibson getting by Oseland are two plays that stick out in my mind. The second team offensive line’s struggles made it tough for Demry to have much time to throw. He never had more than two seconds before he was trying to escape pressure.
With the linebackers, there’s only so much you can tell when they’re in shorts. Jon Celestin continues to impress and make plays in the backfield. Kamal Martin gets caught up in trash sometimes, but he can really run. He’s physical, too, which for some reason I wasn’t necessarily expecting from him. I didn’t see Carter Coughlin get any reps with the first team today. There was a play today when Rodney Smith tried to bounce a run outside and I think he was kind of surprised by Coughlin’s speed.
Kiondre Thomas didn’t work with the first team at all at the last open practice, but did so today and looked very good. Like most of you have seen on film, Thomas has good length, speed, and plays physical. He has excellent closing speed, as well. I’d definitely expect him to play this year.
KiAnte Hardin was shutting down the second team receivers. I’m sure it happened several times, but I don’t remember a single ball being thrown his way in the skeleton part of practice.
Kunle Ayinde worked with first team again. Duke McGhee impressed me, so we’ll see how much he pushes Ayinde for first team reps. He’s always impressed physically with his speed and big hitting ability, but today he also made a couple nice plays on the ball in the air.
To end the first team’s two minute drill (actually 1:30 minute drill), Emmit Carpenter missed a field goal. In the second (or maybe third) team’s two minute drill, Justin Juenemann nailed a 52-yard field goal that would have been good from another 5-10 yards out.
