02-23-06 Practice

[SilverEagle]

Today was a "hitting" day. There was some passing, but mostly there was just lining up and seeing who could block, tackle, and run....and several players felt it too.

QB's

Very unimpressive group today.

Steve Prince was in sweats. He didn't seem to be limping so I don't know what his affliction was (maybe Illuvius found out). Maeger was out there, but he didn't do much except hand-off to running backs on their "get-ten-yards-in-three-plays" drills. I don't remember seeing him throw at all, but I wasn't watching the QB/WR drills, which were going on the same time as the above mentioned drills. BTW Illuvius pointed out (and I agree) there there was a bad case of fumbleitus amongst all of the QB's today. There were very few clean exchanges.

Wilson looked the best of the group. He's still learning where his WR's are going on the short pass (so he throws behind them on occasion) but overall he seems pretty confident, and didn't seem the least bit flustered by the "learning" process. He still has a pretty long ball....although it was just a bit short today. Phillips didn't look impressive. His passes were wobbly and often off target. Definitely an off day for him. K Haynes looked worse than Phillips. For a record setting QB, he doesnt' seem to have a strong arm at all. Ieans was out there and for the first time didn't look like the worse one out there. His long ball is his best throw.

LB/DL

Oh man! There was some interesting moments out there on the LB drills. One drill was the open field tackling drill. All the RB's were given the ball 5 to 7 yards in front of the LB's and their job was to get by them. Except for one time, they all got by Ryan Davenport....one (Henderson) regularly got over him. To be fair to #48, many of the other LB's had a tough time of it themselves. Tobe Nwigwe did real well (especially when Henderson tried to run over him) as did Phillip Graves and Colt Mahan. The walk-on LB #54 was equally ineffective in this drill. He'd better pick it up if he wants to have a chance.

Isssac Thomas is continuing his dominance out there. He is still pretty much unmovable. If he stays healthy thru the fall, he will help make the 3-4 work.

Miller #65 looked good and was pushing people around, and Stewart #61 looked solid. My "iron man" award still goes to #89 Blake Burruss. He was holding his own out there with a taped-up forearm from a previous break.

more to follow....

Okay, Medpilot covered the DB's.

OL, Banks (#54) continues to be a force out there. Foster looks heavier than last year (maybe around 280) and was looking pretty aggressive in his play. Brown was looking pretty good too. Over-all this is a pretty physically impressive group. Jack Crumes looks a bit bigger than his listed weight (270), Adam Venagas looked in good shape (he's listed as 305), and Chris Eidd #78 was also a pretty impressive physical specimen at 6'3"X 320lbs. Eidd and Crumes were running second team.

One of the early fights took place between Banks and Nwigwe. It was broken up quickly, but you have to admire Nwigwe's aggressiveness in trying to take on someone who was at least 65 to 70 lbs heaver than him.

Overall I see the OL being a more aggressive group than last year.

WR, Medpilot covered that pretty well. I saw a good "long ball" catch by Fernandez (#21). The down side is that he pushed-off right before the ball arrived. The up-side is that he was being aggressive in going after the ball. He's listed as 6'5", but he looks closer to 6'3" or 6'4" to me. If he works on his "pushing-off" technique ( ) he could be a real resource out there. I saw Roderick Johnson (#83) make a real good catch on a drill. We need more info on him. He looks to be about 6'1 or 6"2" and about 190.

TE, Charles Brown (#84) looked good out there on some catches. Brian Carlson went down with what looked like a sprained knee during the "make-ten-yards-on-three-plays" drills. They just iced it and he was walking around (gingerly) with a light weight velcro knee brace when I left the practice. The good news is that he didn't have to be helped to the training table.

RB

Well, it looks as if Devin Cox is serious about being Ja-Mo's back-up. We already know that he is fast and elusive, but he demonstrated many times today that he is willing, and able, to deal out some punishment. For some reason, his favorite target was Roderick Cotton (#24). Every time Devin got past the line on the "ten-yards-three-play" drill and Cotton came up to make the tackle, Devin never tried to juke him. He would lower his shoulder and try and run over him. There was one collision that was pretty impressive. Cotton hit Devin and wrapped his arms around him, but Devin went down on top of Cotton... a yard or so past the collision.

Mitchell was doing Ok, but he didn't run with the same urgency that I've seen in the past.

Robertson was looking good in the early drills, but about halfway through I saw him sitting on the bench with his head in his hands. After a while, he took off his shoulder pads and walked around with a slight limp. He appeared to be either stunned or in a great amount of pain. I never saw anyone attend to him or take him to the training table.

Kerona Henderson was his usual battering ram self. He spent the whole practice dealing out punishment and making me glad that it wasn't me trying to tackle him. I hope that the coaching staff has some FB running plays in their play book. This guy could keep a defense honest with a few runs up the middle every game.

* Joshua Moldonado, continues to be a lot of fun to watch. He's fast, fearless, and he finds the holes/seams very well. If Robertson is faster than him, it would be just barely. When I left, he was still flinging himself at the defense in the "dig-ourselves-out-of-the-goal-line" drills....and making some pretty good runs. It's funny to watch him get behind a lineman and hide before he makes his move. RB's will put their hand on the linemans back and slightly push before they make their move. Joshua reaches slightly up to put his hand on the lineman's back.

that's all I can remember at this point.

* Played at (Garland) Sachse HS (Mustangs). Their first year of varsity play was 2004 (District 11-5A). Was offensive player of the year for the team in 2004.

Edited February 24, 2006 by SilverEagle

[buff64]

practice today ? toomorrow ?

[edcollopy]

good to hear such glowing things about isaac....makes you wonder about last year...it's been said before and I'll mention it again...we lost all those conf. games by a very small margin...things are not as ugly in conf. as we may have thought.

out of conf. is another story!

[good_ken]

If he stays healthy thru the fall, he will help make the 3-4 work.If he stays healthy thru the fall, he will help make the 3-4 work.

His prescence could also allow a true freshman lineman to red-shirt (who would have had to play before he's ready).

[GangGreen]

Did Issac Thomas redshirt?

[medpilot21]

Good player focus. We also noted some interesting points throughout the practices:

Hard to judge the QB's this soon into the spring, but Wilson and Phillips were the two who showed the most in this practice.

Something good has infected the wide receivers. Brandon Jackson was a wild man out there. He had a 70 yard TD reception, and made some huge catches. B-Jax has really come on and could challenge Muzzy for the #2 spot, but Muzzy looked pretty good too. Brock Stickler had a couple of nice grabs, including a fade route for a TD in the corner of the end zone.

Let's talk DB. Dominique Green and Desmond Chatman looked very good at corner. The safeties Agbottah and Higgs also looked pretty good. Weathers is out with an injury. Cotton looks good against the pass, but had some issues against the run. Still some issues with Obure and his temper. He got pushed around some today, and apparently doesnt like it. There were several fights, and Obure was in all but one.

Cant say enough about Isaac Thomas. As Silver and Illuvius have written, he is a beast out there right now. His best sack of the practice was knocking the center backwards into the quarterback, which knocked him down. Pure strength.

Linebackers were good today... but Phillip Graves was the star. He had a earth-jarring hit on Phillips. The other standout was Toby Nwigwe. That guy is fast for 240 lbs.

It was good seeing this team as focussed as they seem to be.

GMG!!!

[SilverEagle]

Bump, original practice summary is updated.

[emmitt01]

Had an opportunity to attend a party at the home of one of our lovely and talented ladies' soccer players last night and met Maurice Holman and Steven Prince. Silver, in reply to your query about what's ailing him, it's a shoulder injury he suffered a few days ago...or that's what he told me. He's a nice guy as is Mr. Holman.

[MeanGreenQueen]

Cant say enough about Isaac Thomas. As Silver and Illuvius have written, he is a beast out there right now. His best sack of the practice was knocking the center backwards into the quarterback, which knocked him down. Pure strength.

GMG!!!

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So who was playing center on this play? Are they practicing today (Friday)?

oops..........this is Zeke

Edited February 24, 2006 by MeanGreenQueen

[bigrobdsp]

"Kerona Henderson was his usual battering ram self. He spent the whole practice dealing out punishment and make me glad that it wasn't me trying to tackle him. I hope that the coaching staff has some FB running plays in their play book. This guy could keep a defense honest with a few runs up the middle every game. "

I think thats what we have really been missing. more runs up the middle.

[mad dog]

Man, it sure is nice to have a second (or third) set of eyes out there at practice.

Overall, I think silver and med are right on. Here's a few extra things.

The LB/RB drill is really tough for the LBs. Watching it makes the backers seem really really bad, but I think that's why you hear announcers covering football games remark "that's a great open field tackle." The degree of difficulty in making a stop in the open field is much higher than when you line a guy up. For the most part, Maurice Holman and Toby Nwigwe did the best, with Colt Mahan getting an honorable mention. I hesitate to overly praise Toby, though, because he can be too aggressive at times. He's a guy who's just burning to make a play, a big hit, or a strip, and he'll take chances that make him look bad from time to time. He is big and strong, quick for his size, and if he gets his hands on you, forget it, you're as good as tackled. If he can just take that extra quarter second to read before he reacts, he'll be a good one.

While that drill does indeed favor the running backs, a few of J-Mo's moves were downright sick. Best move was something in between a hop step and a shoulder dip fake that happened so quickly he was by his guy before I realized what had happened. He showed off a spin move with great balance and even a little power.

My offensive play of the day was Brandon Jackson catching a five yard route on about the 10 yard line, then taking it the rest of the way for a touchdown, literally beating out everyone in the secondary in a footrace. Guy is ridiculous fast.

Defensive play of the day was a 'take your pick' of Isaac Thomas. There was the sack that Med talked about, but there was another play where he literally knocked his guy back into the running back, not just clogging the line, but using another human being to tackle the runner. Why he's not running with the first team is beyond me, though Joe Miller and Montey Stevenson are certainly performing well.

Until they did a mini-scrimmage, with downs and yardage, I'd have agreed that Woody Wilson looked the best, if only by a small margin. Matt Phillips threw 3 TD passes, two of which came in the Red Zone, which is traditionally the hardest place to throw. As I mentioned to Silver and Med, if the line shows up ready to play and can give their guy some time, I'd go with Phillips. If not, I'd take Wilson, because he can make his own opportunities. Wilson, however, did put the ball on the ground after taking off on a scramble and not going to the sidelines. Instead, he ran to the middle, and was stripped by Joe Miller, I believe.

Maldonado, the diminuative walk on RB, is something to watch. He's a guy who it is really easy to get behind, especially when he out performs scholarshipped players in the running drills (behind the second team line, no less).

Maybe more to follow...

[j0nat8an]

B-Jax has really come on and could challenge Muzzy for the #2 spot, but Muzzy looked pretty good too.

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granted i don't make it out to practices, but when has muzzy earned the #2 spot? i've seen him come up with 1 big catch in my three seasons up here.

[Eagle1855]

I think thats what we have really been missing. more runs up the middle.

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sarcasm?

[bigrobdsp]

sarcasm?

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perhaps

[Eagle1855]

perhaps

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very much appreciated. I can always make room for a generous helping of sarcasm

[pollock]

granted i don't make it out to practices, but when has muzzy earned the #2 spot?  i've seen him come up with 1 big catch in my three seasons up here.

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Nwigwe is the #2 receiver, hands down.

[H-towngreen]

Nwigwe is the #2 receiver, hands down.

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I'm going to go with B. Jackson. He is the only other person to do anything last year other than JQ.

[mad dog]

Nwigwe has talent, to be sure. But, before you assert that he's for sure the number 2 guy, give Brandon Jackson a chance. Come on out to a practice (I'll be there wednesday, friday, and saturday at least), and I'll point out some things that might change your mind.

For my money, Jackson's 95 yard touchdown pass (90 YAC) was the icing on a cake that's been baking since last season.

[meangreendork]

I vote Jax as well. He was able to catch some of DM's lame-duck, off-target passes last year. That says it enough for me.

[SilverEagle]

Nwigwe has talent, to be sure.  But, before you assert that he's for sure the number 2 guy, give Brandon Jackson a chance.  Come on out to a practice (I'll be there wednesday, friday, and saturday at least), and I'll point out some things that might change your mind.

For my money, Jackson's 95 yard touchdown pass (90 YAC) was the icing on a cake that's been baking since last season.

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After watching practice last week, as well as the scrimmage Saturday, I'd rate B-Jax ahead of Mr. Nwigwe. I don't know if B-Jax has more straight-ahead speed, but I do know that B-Jax is a threat to turn any pass into a significant YAC play.

[flyonthewall]

No word from anyone on the great Johnny Quinn? Is he practicing?

[Quoner]

No word from anyone on the great Johnny Quinn?  Is he practicing?

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He's doing well - REAL well.

"Pepper needs new shorts, Cotton!"

[ipEAGLE]

He's doing well - REAL well.

"Pepper needs new shorts, Cotton!"

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Help us.

[UNTLifer]

No word from anyone on the great Johnny Quinn?  Is he practicing?

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Running track.

[flyonthewall]

I assume the real answer is running track.