DaltonGold
Varsity Lurker
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- Nov 30, 2008
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Great report on day 3's practice. Enjoy!!
Posted by aneill | General | Wednesday 5 August 2009 7:29 pm
Today the team put shells on (shoulder pads and helmets) for the first time, which meant there was a little more hittin’, which meant that football season felt that much closer. The day started off again with special teams as Embry Peebles and Quentim Sims served as the primary kickoff returners. The inidvidual unit drills were different today, focusing more on footwork than yesterday. One particular drill that caught my attention was the “towel drill”. Coach Preston would hold a towel over his head and then drop it either to his left or to his right. The wide receiver then ran out to block the defensive back in order to prevent him from retrieving the towel. This exercise shed some light on who some of the better blockers are in our receiving core. Bay-Bay, Melton, and Stephen Hill stood out to me as the best of the bunch. On the other side, Jerrard Tarrant showed his quickness and elusiveness in blowing by the attempted block every single time to retrieve the towel. The safties and linebackers also executed some basic drills demonstrating how to close in on the offensive player (simulated by another defender). The first pad on pad cracking noises were audible during these drills which gave me the warm fuzzies on the inside.
Passing drills had been the most exciting part of the last two practices and it only got better when some pads were added to the equation! Josh Nesbitt and Tevin Washington again were the most efficient of the bunch going 12-21 collectively. Conversely, Jaybo, Luallen, and Sims had below average outings, going only 5-19 total. Highlights from this portion of practice included a nice hit by safety Dominique Reese on wide receiver Jeremy Moore, jarring the ball loose in the process. This drew the first Oooohs and Ahhhs of summer practice from both spectators and players alike. There wasn’t much of a break in the action before the next big hit occured, this time by The Predator on Lucas Cox. Cox never saw it coming and he could not hold onto the pass. He did manage to stay on his feet, however, but suffered the consequences for doing so as linebacker Brad Jefferson ran stride for stride with him, taunting Cox the entire way after the play was over. It was obvious that the defense was fired up over a little bit of hitting and it’s gonna be that much better with full pads on. At one point, Jaybo was barking out a play at the line of scrimmage as Jefferson intermittenly yelled, “Jaaaaaayboooo……Jaaaaaaybooooo!” Shaw was so rattled that he couldnt even get the play off and of course received an earful from the coach. The coaches themselves were fired up, using some choice words to point out flaws in the quarterback’s passing decisions. It wasn’t all defensive domination and bad offensive execution, however, as A-back Jamaal Paige made an impressive one-handed grab deep down the field while being drilled by a defender in the process. Nesbitt also continued making progress, showing his touch once again on a nice ball to Marcus Wright. Stephen Hill made a nice grab and was open several times deep down the field against Tarrant, but the quarterbacks were unable to find him. Hill also chased down Steven Sylvester from behind and caused him to fumble the fall after he had intercepted a pass. Sylvester drew admonishment from Burnett for not finishing the play, especially after being run down by a true freshman. Hill continues to impress me and if he keeps making this kind of improvement he is certain to become an integral part of the offense.
The teams then broke up into units to do some more drills and just when I thought the practice was over, the best possible thing happened. Practice continued, offense vs. defense, mano-a-mano! The offense attacked the defense with a full arsenal of plays, with Nesbitt, Jaybo, and Washington rotating under center. I didnt keep an exact count, but there were roughly 20 plays or so run with 6 of those being pass plays (pretty typical for our offense). Highlights on the offensive side included Dwyer breaking off a long run for a would be touchdown. It served as a reminder after several short running plays that with Dwyer in the backfield it only takes decent blocking on one play to add another amazing highlight to his collection. I wanted to get up off of the bench that I was sitting on and start jumping around like I would in the stands, but I’ll save that for the season. Nesbitt and Jaybo looked solid under center, while Washington looked a little bit shaky in the first full scrimmage of the summer. On the other side of the ball, TJ Barnes made a nice play to get his hands up and bat an attempted pass into the backfield. At 6-7, he is a beast who will see significant time this year at defensive tackle, if not start. Tarrant showed his closing speed, making a nice play to deflect a guranteed deep completion to a wide open Marcus Wright. Derrick Morgan also made his presence known for the first time, showing great lateral speed and mobility in chasing down the A-back on a toss sweep.
The practice lasted 2.5 hours today and it was hot and windy. Updated lineups are as follows:
First String Defense: No change
Second String Defense: BJ Machen – LB for Correy Earls – DB. Mario Edwards played DB instead of LB
Offense: O-line is still a crap shoot as they all rotate differently. Same with A-backs. I will continue to look for more consistency in how they are grouped together.
DG :biggthumpup:
http://www.daltonjackitup.com
Posted by aneill | General | Wednesday 5 August 2009 7:29 pm
Today the team put shells on (shoulder pads and helmets) for the first time, which meant there was a little more hittin’, which meant that football season felt that much closer. The day started off again with special teams as Embry Peebles and Quentim Sims served as the primary kickoff returners. The inidvidual unit drills were different today, focusing more on footwork than yesterday. One particular drill that caught my attention was the “towel drill”. Coach Preston would hold a towel over his head and then drop it either to his left or to his right. The wide receiver then ran out to block the defensive back in order to prevent him from retrieving the towel. This exercise shed some light on who some of the better blockers are in our receiving core. Bay-Bay, Melton, and Stephen Hill stood out to me as the best of the bunch. On the other side, Jerrard Tarrant showed his quickness and elusiveness in blowing by the attempted block every single time to retrieve the towel. The safties and linebackers also executed some basic drills demonstrating how to close in on the offensive player (simulated by another defender). The first pad on pad cracking noises were audible during these drills which gave me the warm fuzzies on the inside.
Passing drills had been the most exciting part of the last two practices and it only got better when some pads were added to the equation! Josh Nesbitt and Tevin Washington again were the most efficient of the bunch going 12-21 collectively. Conversely, Jaybo, Luallen, and Sims had below average outings, going only 5-19 total. Highlights from this portion of practice included a nice hit by safety Dominique Reese on wide receiver Jeremy Moore, jarring the ball loose in the process. This drew the first Oooohs and Ahhhs of summer practice from both spectators and players alike. There wasn’t much of a break in the action before the next big hit occured, this time by The Predator on Lucas Cox. Cox never saw it coming and he could not hold onto the pass. He did manage to stay on his feet, however, but suffered the consequences for doing so as linebacker Brad Jefferson ran stride for stride with him, taunting Cox the entire way after the play was over. It was obvious that the defense was fired up over a little bit of hitting and it’s gonna be that much better with full pads on. At one point, Jaybo was barking out a play at the line of scrimmage as Jefferson intermittenly yelled, “Jaaaaaayboooo……Jaaaaaaybooooo!” Shaw was so rattled that he couldnt even get the play off and of course received an earful from the coach. The coaches themselves were fired up, using some choice words to point out flaws in the quarterback’s passing decisions. It wasn’t all defensive domination and bad offensive execution, however, as A-back Jamaal Paige made an impressive one-handed grab deep down the field while being drilled by a defender in the process. Nesbitt also continued making progress, showing his touch once again on a nice ball to Marcus Wright. Stephen Hill made a nice grab and was open several times deep down the field against Tarrant, but the quarterbacks were unable to find him. Hill also chased down Steven Sylvester from behind and caused him to fumble the fall after he had intercepted a pass. Sylvester drew admonishment from Burnett for not finishing the play, especially after being run down by a true freshman. Hill continues to impress me and if he keeps making this kind of improvement he is certain to become an integral part of the offense.
The teams then broke up into units to do some more drills and just when I thought the practice was over, the best possible thing happened. Practice continued, offense vs. defense, mano-a-mano! The offense attacked the defense with a full arsenal of plays, with Nesbitt, Jaybo, and Washington rotating under center. I didnt keep an exact count, but there were roughly 20 plays or so run with 6 of those being pass plays (pretty typical for our offense). Highlights on the offensive side included Dwyer breaking off a long run for a would be touchdown. It served as a reminder after several short running plays that with Dwyer in the backfield it only takes decent blocking on one play to add another amazing highlight to his collection. I wanted to get up off of the bench that I was sitting on and start jumping around like I would in the stands, but I’ll save that for the season. Nesbitt and Jaybo looked solid under center, while Washington looked a little bit shaky in the first full scrimmage of the summer. On the other side of the ball, TJ Barnes made a nice play to get his hands up and bat an attempted pass into the backfield. At 6-7, he is a beast who will see significant time this year at defensive tackle, if not start. Tarrant showed his closing speed, making a nice play to deflect a guranteed deep completion to a wide open Marcus Wright. Derrick Morgan also made his presence known for the first time, showing great lateral speed and mobility in chasing down the A-back on a toss sweep.
The practice lasted 2.5 hours today and it was hot and windy. Updated lineups are as follows:
First String Defense: No change
Second String Defense: BJ Machen – LB for Correy Earls – DB. Mario Edwards played DB instead of LB
Offense: O-line is still a crap shoot as they all rotate differently. Same with A-backs. I will continue to look for more consistency in how they are grouped together.
DG :biggthumpup:
http://www.daltonjackitup.com