Thanks to popular demand and a special request by The Machine, I will now start posting my practice reports here.
Today started off nice and overcast, but by the half way point through practice, the temperature started to rise. Boy, the sun was hot.
1. Full pads and helmets, Earls, Watson, Gardner, and Nesbitt still out, it does look extremely likely though that Nesbitt and Gardner will return to practice here in the next day or two, no new injuries to report.
2. They started off with some special teams and nothing real spectacular happened, I couldn't really tell who was punting and no punts really stood out, most of the punts looked fine.
3. They then divided up into unit drills and were that way for a while, they then started the first scrimmage, Jaybo took the snaps with the first string and Dykes, Booker, and Washington split up time between the second and third string, Jaybo looked good against all the defenses, he didn't do anything great, but he did make the right reads and pitches, there was one really good receiver reverse that ended with Melton about 15 yards down field, Dykes really struggled in the scrimmage, not quite sure if it was all his fault though, the defense did penetrate the line rather well, he did make a couple of bad pitches, reads, and decisions that led to turnovers and fumbles, the highlight of the first scrimmage though was when Booker, who had been primarily put into pass for the last couple of plays, took the snap and ran for a huge gain with nobody on his tail, he could have taken it 80 yards had the coaches not blown the whistle (no for penalties, just to stop the play), he had his hands up in the air in celebration and everyone was cheering and clapping! Very entertaining!
4. The first string offense and defense then split up to work on goal line situations, they worked on this quite a while with the first string offense running plays against the third string defense and the first string defense going up against the third string offense, no tackling, just reading and executing.
5. The second scrimmage of the day revolved around the five yard line and the goal line, I have got to admit that the defense started off pretty well only allowing a yard here and there, but the offense (first and second string) really got going, Dykes had a great pass to a receiver in the endzone that was wide open, Jaybo had an amazing run against the first string defense for a touchdown, he was jumping over people and pushing his way forward, the offense then had a couple of really good toss sweeps to the A-backs that ended in touchdowns, the defenses had a couple of good moments, but the offense ruled the second scrimmage.
Forgot to mention that they did some passing drills today. They looked okay passing, nothing real special though. I am getting more and more impressed with our offensive line and Jaybo. The blocking is looking better each day and Jaybo is showing great poise and control. It wasn't a great day for the defense, but they did have some highlights like when Cooper Taylor made a great break on a pass to break it up during 7 on 7s.
