Re: Master B\'s Sunday practice report
Great report by MasterB as always. Was there yesterday on what was a gorgeous day at Rose Bowl Field. The sun was right in our face on the hill. Reminded me of my days in the east stands on game day at BDS.
The real exciting stuff is watching the 7 on 7 (no lineman) and 11 on 11 drills. Other than that got to watch Tunuta working with assignments and play calling with his D. Have 55 gal drums as OLs and use walk-on players as RBs, WR, and TE. They'd line up according to the Offensive set and when the RB's, TE, and WR moved after the snap of the ball the D would work on covering their assignments.
On the other field the offense was working similarly at the same time
When the horn sounds then they'd work on it with the O and D working against each other on 7 on 7 with live ball.
Horn sounds again and they work on LB and DL plays with similar to what they did with coverages early. Then the horn sounds again. This time the D and 0 come together with 11 on 11 drills.
The O is mixing it up a good bit with run and pass moving the ball all over the field. One thing I was looking for was better exchanges. First practice the ball was on the ground a number of times. There was one bad exchange with center and qb on Sunday. I felt it was much improved.
Could tell Tunuta wasn't happy with run support with DBs and Ss several times. He'd yell, in his own way of putting things
, telling them to play the run. Guess one way of putting it is Coach Tunuta was colorful is his use of words.
Saw the ball going to TE a lot with several dropped balls. After the first two practices were over Coach Robinson had the guys staying working on catching using the ball machine.
Noticed they're using simpler and basic O sets with Pena. While he still looked tentative at times, thought he did look better on Sunday. ylojk8 yelled, "OHHHHH." on one really nice throw he made. That was to Curry who seems to be a man on a mission. Pena when he's on target throws a very catchable pass.
Bilbo made some nice plays. The best being the one MasterB talked about. Was a thing of beauty. Need more of those.
One thing is for sure. We're not seeing nearly as many of the sideline passed early on. Seeing the ball over the middle much more.
Ahhh screen plays! Worked on this a good bit yesterday. On one Daniels got through the entire D untouched. The offensive guys were all fired up cheering for PJ. Really like the way our OL moved on that play. The defenders were there, but O had everyone blocked. Be interesting to see plays like that when it's full contact.
Really impressed so far in practice with "Freddie" Smith who isn't jawing at practice like the past. He's very business like. Looks very focused, and I do believe Houston isn't looking forward to seeing practice film of a few plays from yesterday. Two others that have caught my eye on O is Curry and ACE. Know all these guys are skill dudes, but that's all you can really tell until the pads and real hitting starts on most plays
On D to me you can't help but noticed Henderson. He's playing like he wants to start at DE. Without a doubt the fastest guy out of his stance on the field is Greg Gathers. Just really happy to see it too. Spoke with his father. Hope he doesn't mind me posting here about it. Greg's got a doc appointment the 24th of this month. I just wish him the best. His father who is a very level headed great guy sounds pleased. By the way Greg's on schedule to graduate in January of this year.
Fox is the man at LB. Seeing Brown and Lawston in the middle with Green, McNair, "Tugboat", and Fox on the outside. Did see Brown on one play on outside as well. McNair is a young dude that I really like a lot. See a lot of speed and aggressiveness. We'll see about football speed when pads and real contact starts.
Someone had asked about I Perfection. Looks like guys like D. Davis and Gillium are ahead of him at this point. Davis has a very nice pass break up on Sunday. There was another time when someone got deep on him, but the ball was a bit short giving him time to break on ball. Still could have been caught, but he made a very good play on ball giving the WR no chance.
There were some passes over the middle where we watched Landry back off in no contact. With no pads on that's what they're suppose to do. He was there for the big hit. Landry looks very aggressive. Can tell he's ready to bring the wood. Now when the Big Cooper get's loose back there things might get interesting. There might be some interesting collisions. By the way, yes, Cooper has the speed to get deep. I believe he's going to be very much in the mix of things come Fall. If Cooper had wings the size of his arms he could glid from Buckhead to BDS with no problem. That guy has some serious long arms.
It's still great to be out there, but we'll be able to tell a great deal more when pads go on.
If anyone has any questions shoot away.
Go Jackets!