Wednesday, August 16 (Practice No. 17)
Practice was mostly outdoors, with much of the roster getting in on 11-on-11 work. We are now at the “there’s not much new to be seen here” point of fall camp, so, rather than re-hashing observations I’ve made other days, I’ll share thoughts in what I think is settled on this roster and what isn’t.
Where I am reasonably certain:
Practice was mostly outdoors, with much of the roster getting in on 11-on-11 work. We are now at the “there’s not much new to be seen here” point of fall camp, so, rather than re-hashing observations I’ve made other days, I’ll share thoughts in what I think is settled on this roster and what isn’t.
Where I am reasonably certain:
- The quarterback pecking order. AJ Swann’s going to start, Ken Seals will be the backup, and I think Drew Dickey, the No. 3.
- The starting offensive line—from left to right, Gunnar Hansen, Delfin Xavier Castillo, Julian Hernandez, Bradley Ashmore, Junior Uzebu—hasn’t changed all camp and there’s no reason to think it will.
- I don’t think you’ll see a true freshman offensive lineman play meaningful snaps this year.
- WR Will Sheppard is the best player on the team, and I think he’ll be joined by Quincy Skinner (Z) and Jayden McGowan (slot). And I think London Humphries and Junior Sherrill will see WR reps in the opener, too.
- I think RB Patrick Smith will be the starter.
- TE Justin Ball will start, and TE Logan Kyle will play a good bit as the second-best tight end.
- Along the DL and LB corps, NT Devin Lee, DT Nate Clifton and Star Aeneas DiCosmo, along with WLB Kane Patterson, should start.
- CB BJ Anderson will start, SS Jaylen Mahoney will also, and I think FS De’Rickey Wright should also, though Marlen Sewell has played more (due to Wright being out) and done things at times
- Who starts opposite Anderson at the other corner? It sure looked like it’d be Martel Hight last week and then it sure looked like that would be Tyson Russell the last 4-5 practices. Based on that and history, my assumption was that Russell had probably won the job—he’s been there two years longer—I was told today that might not necessarily be the case. So that’s probably my top question at this point.
- The next-biggest question is placekicker, where Kansas transfer Jacob Borcilla and Brock Taylor are battling it out, and my perception is that Taylor (who has a big leg) has improved as camp has gone on. My gut feeling is Borcilla and I’d be mildly surprised if he’s not the guy, but perhaps the last week matters. Oh, and Clark Lea hinted Sunday that Will Faris (the only returnee of the three) might be the kickoff guy.
- Ethan Barr (still out) or Langston Patterson at MLB? I think Patterson is the flashier player and better pass-rush option but they still seem to lean Barr here.
- The backup there is a question. They like Bryan Longwell and so do I, but they like Nick Rinaldi also (and I share the sentiment that he can help). I think both will play but I’m not certain about a pecking order there.
- Will Chase Gillespie or Sedrick Alexander be the second-team RB? (My guess it’s the order I listed).
- What is WR Gamarion Carter’s role? It’s not as if he’s been bad, they just have so many options. And that possibly includes walk-on Richie Hoskins who (and I am not exaggerating here) does something good in just about every practice.
- Is Leyton Nelson the top backup option at both tackles? My guess is that he is but you could see Charlie Clark as the backup RT or David Siegel as the top backup at either.
- What do they do at the end spot vacated by the Darren Agu injury? Again, my guess is Yilanan Outtara starts here but Linus Zunk, Brayden Bapst and Alex Brown have played a good bit at that spot. Nate Clifton has (and could) also move over one spot and play outside, which could mean Daevion Davis starts inside in that event.
- What do do with this year’s CJ-Taylor-lite Bryce Cowan, who has been a LB and is behind Taylor at anchor?
- Whether they’ll go Will Sheppard or Martel Hight returning punts could be a question of preference. I just haven’t seen any game-breaking ability in Sheppard as a returner, but he doesn’t drop the ball, either. I think that Hight probably brings more explosiveness here.
- I forgot to report this earlier, but Tommy Eckels—a walk-on who played all 12 games last year—isn’t with the team this year and is done with football.
- Don’t sleep on Daevon Walker as a future corner who can help. Someone brought his name up to me today; this wasn’t just a “he’s not going to play at receiver, so let’s move him over here,” move as they really think he has potential there.
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