GENERAL NOTES
Tonight’s practice was held in the Indoor Practice Facility from approximately 7 to 8:35.
I missed it, but there was an organized walk-over with about 20-25 campus police in what was more or less a show of solidarity and appreciation for the work that they do in light of today’s political climate. I was told it was “pretty cool.”
Former Titans All-Pro RB Eddie George was at practice watching his son, RB Jaire George.
Players wore jerseys, shorts and helmets (no pads) and so contact was obviously limited, though there was some physical nature in that they ran a semblance of plays for a portion of practice without the tackling and full contact.
There were 102 total participants; that’s the most since coach Derek Mason has been here.
NON-PARTICIPANTS
I didn’t notice anyone missing and asked about it, and understand that nobody was held out.
LIMITED PARTICIPANTS
DL Jay Woods (red jersey, but moved really well)
DB Donovan Sheffield was wearing a red jersey.
INDIVIDUAL NOTES
As was the case in the spring, I was really struck by how much quicker and more agile ILB Nigel Bowden was than before.
Ranking the QBs according to arm strength shown tonight:
I didn’t see all of his throws and so don’t read much into it, but I’d hoped to see Shurmur a little sharper than he was tonight.
Wallace has some mobility and looks as if he’s done some work with his body since I saw him in street clothes at the end of July. He’s showed some mobility and elusiveness when the pocket broke down.
There was some talk of Stankavage getting some work in some packages, which I can see with his mobility. However, it’s going to be limited. The arm strength still isn’t there, and I think Wallace may reasonably be able to do what Stankavage can, though obviously Stankavage would probably know the offense better since he’s been on campus two additional years. (That said, Wallace was here for the spring.)
If that’s how it pans out, I feel a little bad for Sean; he showed a few things at the end of last spring and I thought he had a bit of a window of opportunity, but the knee injury wrecked a lot of that momentum, it appears to me.
Darrius Sims was working with the receivers out of the slot. After practice, Mason said they’ll use him there and in a variety of ways—jet sweeps, work out of the backfield, etc.
Freshman receivers DonavenTennyson and Kalija Lipscomb both had balls go through their hands when I briefly watched each.
We talked a lot in the spring about the move of Khari Blasingame to fullback, but he was getting some tailback reps tonight and frankly, I think he might be athletic enough to get a few reps there, though I’m not sure how many will be available with Ralph Webb, Josh Crawford and Jamauri Wakefield around. That’s probably not good for Dallas Rivers.
Wakefield really looked the part. He’s got the speed and quickness to be a factor in this league. First impression is that he's got more physical and athletic ability than Crawford.
P Sam Loy is wearing No. 19, same as C.J. Duncan. Walk-on Reid Nelson, his competition, struck the ball notably better tonight than he did in the spring, hitting the top of the IPF (as did Loy, though Loy’s got there quicker and with more authority).
TEAM NOTES
Coach Derek Mason said they want to create more turnovers this year, and there was a lot of work today in terms of having defensive backs back-pedal and close on balls thrown to the sidelines.
There was a whole, whole lot of emphasis on knocking the ball loose so long as the play was even remotely live. George found this out the hard way once when he got stripped at the end of a run. (I think it was Jalen Banks who did the dirty work, but I’m not 100 percent sure.)
There was more of a sense of urgency than I remember at past practices… getting to drills quickly, even wasting less time between snaps in drills. Practices seem more efficient than they did before.
Here’s what seemed to be the starting offensive line tonight. I didn’t have a chance to ask Mason about it to take it only as a “for what it’s worth” for tonight until we see where things settle in:
LT: Will Holden
LG: Delando Crooks
C: Barrett Gouger
RG: Bailey Granier
RT: Andrew Jelks
Later, Jelks moved to center with Jared Southers getting some first-team work at RT. Jelks had a decent amount of reps at center.
Ean Pfeifer also had a few reps at center. I forgot to see what they were doing what Cole Hardin.
In a very, very brief look at Braden Kopp, I liked what I saw. FWIW, he and the rest of the freshmen offensive linemen had just awful haircuts… they all looked as if they got into a fight with a pair of angry, drunken hedge clippers. It must have been some sort of freshman position initiation thing but I didn’t get to ask. Walk-on David Floyd got the worst end of any of them, which was really saying something.
Tonight’s practice was held in the Indoor Practice Facility from approximately 7 to 8:35.
I missed it, but there was an organized walk-over with about 20-25 campus police in what was more or less a show of solidarity and appreciation for the work that they do in light of today’s political climate. I was told it was “pretty cool.”
Former Titans All-Pro RB Eddie George was at practice watching his son, RB Jaire George.
Players wore jerseys, shorts and helmets (no pads) and so contact was obviously limited, though there was some physical nature in that they ran a semblance of plays for a portion of practice without the tackling and full contact.
There were 102 total participants; that’s the most since coach Derek Mason has been here.
NON-PARTICIPANTS
I didn’t notice anyone missing and asked about it, and understand that nobody was held out.
LIMITED PARTICIPANTS
DL Jay Woods (red jersey, but moved really well)
DB Donovan Sheffield was wearing a red jersey.
INDIVIDUAL NOTES
As was the case in the spring, I was really struck by how much quicker and more agile ILB Nigel Bowden was than before.
Ranking the QBs according to arm strength shown tonight:
- Wade Freebeck
- Kyle Shurmur
- Deuce Wallace
- Sean Stankavage.
I didn’t see all of his throws and so don’t read much into it, but I’d hoped to see Shurmur a little sharper than he was tonight.
Wallace has some mobility and looks as if he’s done some work with his body since I saw him in street clothes at the end of July. He’s showed some mobility and elusiveness when the pocket broke down.
There was some talk of Stankavage getting some work in some packages, which I can see with his mobility. However, it’s going to be limited. The arm strength still isn’t there, and I think Wallace may reasonably be able to do what Stankavage can, though obviously Stankavage would probably know the offense better since he’s been on campus two additional years. (That said, Wallace was here for the spring.)
If that’s how it pans out, I feel a little bad for Sean; he showed a few things at the end of last spring and I thought he had a bit of a window of opportunity, but the knee injury wrecked a lot of that momentum, it appears to me.
Darrius Sims was working with the receivers out of the slot. After practice, Mason said they’ll use him there and in a variety of ways—jet sweeps, work out of the backfield, etc.
Freshman receivers DonavenTennyson and Kalija Lipscomb both had balls go through their hands when I briefly watched each.
We talked a lot in the spring about the move of Khari Blasingame to fullback, but he was getting some tailback reps tonight and frankly, I think he might be athletic enough to get a few reps there, though I’m not sure how many will be available with Ralph Webb, Josh Crawford and Jamauri Wakefield around. That’s probably not good for Dallas Rivers.
Wakefield really looked the part. He’s got the speed and quickness to be a factor in this league. First impression is that he's got more physical and athletic ability than Crawford.
P Sam Loy is wearing No. 19, same as C.J. Duncan. Walk-on Reid Nelson, his competition, struck the ball notably better tonight than he did in the spring, hitting the top of the IPF (as did Loy, though Loy’s got there quicker and with more authority).
TEAM NOTES
Coach Derek Mason said they want to create more turnovers this year, and there was a lot of work today in terms of having defensive backs back-pedal and close on balls thrown to the sidelines.
There was a whole, whole lot of emphasis on knocking the ball loose so long as the play was even remotely live. George found this out the hard way once when he got stripped at the end of a run. (I think it was Jalen Banks who did the dirty work, but I’m not 100 percent sure.)
There was more of a sense of urgency than I remember at past practices… getting to drills quickly, even wasting less time between snaps in drills. Practices seem more efficient than they did before.
Here’s what seemed to be the starting offensive line tonight. I didn’t have a chance to ask Mason about it to take it only as a “for what it’s worth” for tonight until we see where things settle in:
LT: Will Holden
LG: Delando Crooks
C: Barrett Gouger
RG: Bailey Granier
RT: Andrew Jelks
Later, Jelks moved to center with Jared Southers getting some first-team work at RT. Jelks had a decent amount of reps at center.
Ean Pfeifer also had a few reps at center. I forgot to see what they were doing what Cole Hardin.
In a very, very brief look at Braden Kopp, I liked what I saw. FWIW, he and the rest of the freshmen offensive linemen had just awful haircuts… they all looked as if they got into a fight with a pair of angry, drunken hedge clippers. It must have been some sort of freshman position initiation thing but I didn’t get to ask. Walk-on David Floyd got the worst end of any of them, which was really saying something.
