Fouts Field

[Will to Win]

6:30-7:30

Well, I counted about 25 folks in the stands. CBS Ch.11 satellite truck on site.

TD was working with (surprise) the QB's. All looked OK.

Pass oriented practice , no hand-offs (not even the water bottles during break were handed-off, they were literally "passed" around)

Only there for an hour and liked what little I saw.

[NT80]

6:30-7:30

Well, I counted about 25 folks in the stands. CBS Ch.11 satellite truck on site.

TD was working with (surprise) the QB's. All looked OK.

Pass oriented practice , no hand-offs (not even the water bottles during break were handed-off, they were literally "passed" around)

Only there for an hour and liked what little I saw.

Thanks for the report. When was the last time NT had a satellite truck at a spring practice?

[GoMeanGreen1999]

Thanks for the report. When was the last time NT had a satellite truck at a spring practice?

I just saw the report they did on Channel 11 and it seems like they were very upbeat. All of the comments I have seen from players, they seem to be upbeat.

[MCMLXXX]

Channel 5 was also there and spoke with Dodge and also played film clips from practice.

[NT91]

Saw the Ch. 5.

[Guest GrayEagleOne]

Other than those mentioned by Vito, were there any others missing from spring practice?

[Mad Hatter]

I went as well for the first 2 hours. It was pretty cool to see how "Hands On" he was with the QB's. LOTS of passing drills. When I first walked out there, they had the offense lined up on the field and were practicing "Reading" the hand signals coming in from Dodge.

Also good to see George Dunham and RV there joking along the sidelines.

Brandon Jackson made some great catches.

[MeanGreen61]

Brandon Jackson made some great catches.

[Charlie NT 73]

Any idea on the number of walk on's?

Was there a roster available with names that you could share?

How did the o-line look?

Any work on the defense?

[mean green d]

Emailed Eric Capper and he said a roster should be available online sometime this week.

[Mad Hatter]

Charlie - There weren't any rosters, so I have no idea about the number of Walk-Ons, though I did notice there were probably 15-20 kids linng up as receivers........I think that included some of the tight ends, but I'm not certain.

Offensive line was doing a LOT of technique work with the O-Line coach (no pads)

Defensive Line was doing some technique as well.

The secondary spent a lot of the evening lining up against the receivers. They had a few pics, and some blocks, but I'd say the receivers had a better night.

Maybe someone who follows the team closer (knows all of their numbers) could give you a better read.

One interesting note. I was sitting up in the stands next to an African-American man who was decked out in NT gear. I asked him if he was a fan or a parent, and he said that he was actually a coach with Dickey from 1998 up until the year before last. He indicated he was the Running Backs coach and recruited the Houston area. (I'm sure someone here would know his name, but for some reason it just never came up). He currently lives in Lewisville, but said he had played at NT back in the Hayden Fry era and coached there, and would remain a fan......but that's not the interesting part. He said that HE was concerned about J-Mo and the new system. Not because they don't run the ball much, but because of how complex the system is. With all the plays coming in via hand signal from the sideline while they're already lined up, he thinks J-Mo may have trouble because "that's just not his strength". He did go on to say that they BETTER find a way to make it work because he's such a talented kid. he also mentioned that J-Mo looked like he had slimmed down quite a bit.

Edited March 14, 2007 by Mad Hatter

[DeepGreen]

That coach had to be Bruce Bell. Go guy and a good recruiter.

[GoMeanGreen1999]

One interesting note. I was sitting up in the stands next to an African-American man who was decked out in NT gear. I asked him if he was a fan or a parent, and he said that he was actually a coach with Dickey from 1998 up until the year before last. He indicated he was the Running Backs coach and recruited the Houston area. (I'm sure someone here would know his name, but for some reason it just never came up). He currently lives in Lewisville, but said he had played at NT back in the Hayden Fry era and coached there, and would remain a fan......but that's not the interesting part. He said that HE was concerned about J-Mo and the new system. Not because they don't run the ball much, but because of how complex the system is. With all the plays coming in via hand signal from the sideline while they're already lined up, he thinks J-Mo may have trouble because "that's just not his strength". He did go on to say that they BETTER find a way to make it work because he's such a talented kid. he also mentioned that J-Mo looked like he had slimmed down quite a bit.

Thanks for the great report. I had read somewhere that he came here because he had some learning difficulties and we have a department that is good with these types of things. That being said, I am sure that Dodge will do whatever it takes to make sure he succeeds the most.

[GoMeanGreen1999]

That coach had to be Bruce Bell. Go guy and a good recruiter.

DeepGreen, I love your avitar - did you create that?

[DeepGreen]

DeepGreen, I love your avitar - did you create that?

The helmet is Smity's design and I added the NT. It needs some refining. Hopefully, Smitty can create one just like it with a nicer interlocked NT. Feel free to use it as your avatar.

Edited March 14, 2007 by DeepGreen

[NT80]

Mad Hatter: Were all four current QBs being used in the passing? Any look better than the others or get more reps? Thanks.

[Mad Hatter]

Yes - They were using all 4 quaterbacks. Number 6, 7, 8 and I think 18 (I assumed Tune). I couldn't tell if any of them looked any better. They all dealt with some dropped passes, what looked like wrong routes, and misthrown balls, but I thought they looked alright.

They all took about the same number of snaps that I saw and rotated pretty good.

TD really spent the whole practice working with them, and they all appeared eager to learn.

Don't know if this matters to anyone, but the coaches were ALL wearing black. The offense was in white, and the defense wore green.

[EastTexasMG]

Phillips is #18, Tune is #6

Edited March 14, 2007 by EastTexasMG

[Green Crazy]

J-Mo's learning disability was dyslexia wasn't it?

[trud1966]

Nobody took digital pics? Or are cameras not allowed in the Spring Practices?

[MeanGreenBuzz]

Great reports guys thanks!

[PHSCoach]

J-Mo's learning disability was dyslexia wasn't it?

He also had a 3.25 GPA last year

[THOR]

you have to be smart to be dyslexic...or to learn to deal with dyslexia and overcome it. kids that are sometimes diagnosed with dyslexic tendencies aren't allowed into the dyslexia program because of a lower ability to learn...ie their iq... j-mo's a smart dude!

[greenminer]

Pass oriented practice , no hand-offs (not even the water bottles during break were handed-off, they were literally "passed" around)

well, hot diggity dang, throwing water bottles! OU is dead for sure.

[Mad Hatter]

I posted this in another thread, but thought I'd put it over here with the rest of the updates on practice:

I have another Tid Bit to share about practice. As I've said before, TD spent just about the entire time working with the QB's and to a lesser extent the WR's. I was impressed when he took 2 of the QB's aside (they did rotate the other 2 to work with him later) and ran a drill that I've never seen.

There is a screen/net that they pulled out that had 3 holes in it at various heights. (The whole thing is probably 4 feet long and 3 or 4 feet high, but it's on wheels so the holes are at about shoulder height). Dodge sat at the base of this thing with a stack of small orange cones (the kind you'd use to set up running routes or something). He'd have the QB start with his back to the net, walk away from it until Dodge said "hut", then the QB would turn around, and Dodge would have thrown one of the cones at the QB. The QB, would etiher duck, bend, or jump out of the way, and then throw the ball through one of the holes in the net. They'd do this several times and then Dodge would stand up and show the QB, different ways of moving to keep his posture ready for throwing immediately after moving. They all seemed to get something out of the 1 on 2 training.

While TD had 2 of the QB's off to the side, the other 2 QB's were throwing balls to the receivers.

I'm sure it's a good drill, but I sure thought it was funny the first time I saw TD, squatting down in front of the net with holes, and then chunking an orange cone at the QB......sometimes the throw would be high (head/chest area) and sometimes it'd be low (feet/legs).