Some of the notes I jotted down while there:
Quarterbacks:
Pryor: You could see his leadership, especially in coaching up Guiton. No 1-hoppers this year...all passes had velocity and pace with them. Still has a bit of touch to learn. Also, you can clearly see he is emphasizing keeping his eyes downfield. His mobility helped him open up space and a throwing lane connecting on some nice downfield strikes. Much improved from last year; a night and day difference.
Guiton: Behind Pryor, I was most impressed with Ken. He was very enthusiastic with his snaps. Great footwork in the drop back/ side step drills. You can tell he is here to get better. Nice snap and quick delivery passing the ball. Placement is a bit shaky but that is expected at this stage. He was definately a steal. Oh and he look
more than capable running the option attack.
Bauserman: Coming back from surgery I didn't expect much but he was a pleasant surprise. He has most of his velocity back, but you can tell that maybe his conditioning isn't quite all the way back yet. Or maybe the coaches wanted to play Guiton more this practice? Who knows but Bauserman did have some jittery feet when the rush was on...probably is going to take some time getting back used to the speed of the game. When he had time though he was dangerous with his throws.
Running Backs:
Boom Herron: As seen last year, his instincts and vision are tremendous. Didn't get a ton of work today. But from what I saw he has definately filled out his body and improved his lateral quickness. As a side note he played around some, taking dropbacks with the QBs. Had the coaches laughing a bit.
Saine: His explosion is back, as is his cutting ability. I am just about ready to pass off last year as him being jittery coming back from the injury. Most plays were standard operating procedure but they did have some plays where he lined up at fullback and pass protected very well. In the team drills they motioned him into the fullback position and he ran a wheel (or streak) in which Pryor threw a beautiful ball 50 yards in air to him in the endzone for a touchdown.
Berry: Berry has vision and jets, point blank. Acceleration is very good. You could tell he was a bit hampered from the aforementioned injury but he is solid and ready for carries this fall. Looked smooth out of the backfield and made one cut back across the field on a pitch where a shoestring tackle stopped him from breaking into the secondary. I'm excited to see him this year. They also ran a PA Shovel Pass to him that developed nicely but only got 8 yards due to a great read from Sabino. Florida brought down Florida on that one.
Hall: He is built like a bowling ball. Good cuts and is hard to bring down. Runs with a very low center of gravity and oftentimes puts his hand on his lead blockers back to get a feel for the blocking, make a cut upfield and get positive yardage. He's been coached well. Split time with Berry at 3rd string RB. At one point he was very confused as to where to line up and had to have a coach talk him up. But hey; he's a freshman. His confusion came when they wanted him to line up at H-back and motion into the backfield (ala the Saine play above).
Wide Receivers:
TWash, TWash, TWash: This guy is primetime and ready to breakout this season. He is not just a spring game product. His hands are great. He has a certain pacing/gallop to his step in which he is always in control of his body. Never frantic, and very sticky hands. He was amazing in the 1v1 drills, even if the ball wasn't thrown on target he almost always had a step on his opponent. In the team offense vs team defense drills he seemed to be a favorite target of Terrelle's. Lookout for him this year. Oh, and he can block too...ask Nathan Williams who was the recipient of a nasty crackback on a sweep (okay not full on nasty but it would have been if they were going full go, definately heard the "ooohs" and the pads crack for sure). The battle of #5 (TWash vs Chekwa) was nasty as both were going at it in the 1v1 drills.
Posey: You can see he is dripping with talent. I mean it oozes out of every pore. Routes were crisp, turning it upfield with ease, blocking was great. Definately the starting wideout. What I didn't know, however, is that he is lefty? After receiving punts he was throwing them back lefthanded, and pretty well too! Had a nice jumpball against Torrence that he brought down in the corner of the endzone. May need a little work getting off the line quickly but that might have been a lack of explosion due to the hammy being pulled earlier this month.
Sanzo: STO, standard operating procedure for him. All day. He commands the slot and knows where to sit to get open and where he needs to be. Very high IQ and never looked lost.
Flash: Speed is there, hands are there, agility is there. The problem? Sanzo is there as well in the slot. Didn't get a ton of reps but looked dangerous when out there. Had a nice move on a KR where he slipped between a crease in the wedge and was gone upfield. Like a true sprinter fashion though he slowed it up before full jets came on. Man I wanted to see him at full run.
Fields: Fields has SERIOUS speed. That's all for now as most of his reps and notability came in the special teams packages.
Duron Carter:
Never have I seen a freshman so fluid with his routes and hands. Worked as the 2nd team SE and 3rd team FL from what I could tell. Josh has that amazing catch beautifully captured above this post. He will need to get bigger. But the intagibles are there. Drew a flag from the back ref on Coleman in the 7 on 7 drill. Arm work and getting separation is there. He has a huge leg up on the other freshman wideouts, and he wasn't even here for the spring. Expect greatness from him.
As a whole the WRs dominated on the 1v1 drills, but the DBs came back strong on the 7 on 7's.
TE's (didn't jot notes on them specifically):
Ballard and Fragel showed out. Didn't see much of Stoney but that's not to say he wasn't doing well. I can see that there is more emphasis on hitting the TE's this year. At one point the QBs were working with the TEs exclusively.
OLINE:
Now, here is where I can't explain everything that well. I was sitting diagonally opposite from where the Oline was working. I was right in front of the RBs, QBs, and WRs, but couldn't get anything on the oline in their individual drills with the DLinemen. I hope someone did...
But in team situations I know that
Miller got more snaps with the ones than
Shugarts at LT. Um...2nd team RT was
Marcus Hall.
Browning looked GREAT out there.
Adams played a ton in the red zone segment (I don't think he ever came off) but it wasn't really a live rush. I payed special attention to him in the other team situations and he controlled his side of the field for the most part. But that was usually against the 2nd team ends however.
Keith Wells got by him once off his speed rush.
I hope more guys wrote down notes but that's all I got for Oline, sorry!
D-Line:
Strongest part of the team; by far. When the 1st team Dline was in there, there was no running game to be had. Oh btw the 1st team read
Gibson, Worthington, Heyward/Larimore, Williams/Heyward. Since
Heyward wasn't playing in contact drills (has a light boot on, nothing serious) they rotated a ton.
Rose was in there, as was
Wilson, and
Goebel. These boys are STRONG. Maybe it was an offensive line problem but there was just no push to be had.
Linebackers:
Sabino's light (IMO) has clicked. I think the reps in the absence of
Spitler have progressed him well. He looked like a different player than the one in the Spring Game. He was not sitting on his heels. What I was delighted with was his play recognition. Once he read the play his athleticism and talent was on display. I think he was most impressive of the first team linebackers. He looks like he slimmed down a bit from the spring game. Conditioning looks way better.
Homan was solid, and was a rock. He held is ground and shed blocks extremely well. He was starting at the WILL.
Rolle was Rolle: disruptive. He is like a little freakin' bullet that smashes up play rhythm. He caused havoc in toss sweeps and stretch plays due to his speed to the play. Made the runningbacks cut back quite a bit to avoid his disruption.
Kevin Newsome (IMO) is going to be Thad Gibson but from a two point stance. Every time he rushed he got to the QB, point blank. He is an ideal 3-4 OLB and I am very happy he joined the class. Reminds me a lot of Hines when he first stepped foot on campus.
Newsome will most likely stay at LB, or play the Viper position. He might not play this fall (he is still a little slim and could use time in the weight room) but the instincts and speed are there.
Storm Klein was showing out. I've heard rave reviews about him. I didn't see anything EXTRAORDINARY from him but he is definately ahead of the learning curve for most freshman. Very sound tackler.
Bell got big! Moves extremely well and has a pop in his hit that is noticeable. I could tell who hit the ballcarrier by that sound. Ran mostly with the third team, however.
The forgotten man at linebacker:
Jordan Whiting. Okay. He. Is. Huge. No way should a freshman look like that. On the very last play of the practice he popped
Guiton down hard on an option keeper. Other than that though he performed well in run downs at the MLB, but looks like he'll need some time to read the pass downs.
CBs:
Chekwa is a pure athlete. Got beat a few times (from
Twash and
Posey) but had a solid night. He has bounce. I dare someone to throw a fade over him in the back of the endzone. It seems he can jump as high as he needs to at a moments notice. Jams were okay, makeup speed is definately there and the long arms got to a couple balls that I didn't think he could. Not Malcolm Jenkins by any stretch, but seems much better than he did in the spring game and in the fiesta bowl (which was a bad night for him). He did take his fair share of beats though. Mostly from #8 and #5.
Amos jams particularly well (which is how he dominated
Mario Manningham back in HS) and is very fluid. You can tell he is a senior by how he carries himself. He never seemed out of place. Looks to be a good cover 2 corner for us with his size, jamming ability, and tackling form (superb). Man to man though he will need a safety overtop to keep up with the speedier wideouts (sadly looks like the result of all those injuries). He will hold his own though.
Torrence split time with
Amos at the #2 corner. Speed is there. Athleticism is there. He looks like a centerfielder out there (in a good way). He just needs more snaps and more reps. In the 1v1's there thew fades to try to exploit his size, but he held his own. Got beat once on a slant-corner route by someone (walkon I think? 85 was the number I'm pretty sure) where he bit the slant and would have had a pick-6. He'll learn.
Dominic Clarke impressed me; definately. I don't think he got beat bad one time, even when matched against the better wideouts. We definately got a sleeper with him, he will be a name to remember.
Corey Brown frustrated me to watch. Not in a terribly bad way. Let me explain. He is so damn athletic. He is so damn quick. He has so much damn bounce. But...he is not quite a cover corner yet. It was frustrating only because I know the potential. It's like knowing superman as a baby, and knowing what he will be in due time. A freak. But, he needs the time to develop. Especially his body, he could stand to bulk up just a bit. The physical receivers were trying to exploit it. I think it was him who was beat by
Duron with the one handed catch. Man, when the light clicks for him (when he gets enough reps), we are going to have another Chris Gamble on our hands.
I didn't get a great look at the other corners.
S:
Kurt Coleman better be careful, with arms like that he might end up an OLB at the next level! He has next level all over him though. They never really threw deep to his side of the field though, and with good reason. Duron drew a nice PI call against him but that was about it.
Russell: Looks more athletic than last year. Most notable thing I remember about him was how flexible he was in the air and during warmups. When he and Coleman were in the game the QB didn't look deep and tried to work the middle of the field and the flats.
Wood: I'm excited to see how he plays when he gets time. He hits well and wraps well. Again, safeties weren't tested much tonight. The deep balls thrown were more fault of the man coverage as opposed to the safeties.
Hines: I'm not worried one bit about Hines, so I didn't pay much attention to him.
Umm...that's about it. Oh..a few more things:
Petrey has the leg to hit from 60+, no doubt about it.
Also shook hands with
Dom Tiberi. I didn't extend my hand either. I guess he thought that he is a huge celebrity and that everyone in his midst wants to shake his hand cuz he is that cool. Oh well.
Umm....that's about all that my blackberry has in it. If you have any questions about specific players I know I can remember more. Go Bucks!
