Hello all!
Today was the our second-to-last open practice of camp, and because the weather cooperated, we were back outside. My notes are going to be shorter than normal because the period flew by and it was a bit harder to keep track of across the two fields. We'll get Coach Rudzinski at 6pm, as well as players.
Health
Yellow Jerseys: Grant Misch, Ben Smiley, Antonio Clary, Coen King, Houston Curry
Green Jerseys: Snoop Amaama, Logan Taylor, Zach Teter, Ronnie Walker
As always, this isn't a comprehensive list, just the guys I saw. I think this was most of them today. Guys like King, Clary and Davis were off on the side working with trainers when I was watching. McKale Boley is back in a blue jersey for what feels like the first time in a while, which is a good sign for the young lineman. Ronnie Walker is still in green, but he went through RB drills and looks pretty fluid to me. Probably a ways to go before he's totally cleared, but it seems that his recovery is going well.
Anthony Johnson opened practice with the ceremonial "Hoo Jacks" today.
After stretching, a big portion of the team went into kickoff and kickoff coverage work. I saw at least one onside kick in there, and noticed that Keytaon Thompson is on the "hands team" part of the coverage group, along with James Jackson and others. Will Bettridge and Brendan Farrell both kicked, as we've seen through camp and in Saturday's scrimmage. Demick Starling was again the first returner out, and if I had to bet right now, I'd say he's going to be a primary kick returner on this team. Elliott said that he's more comfortable returning kicks than punts at the moment, so perhaps that job goes to Devin Chandler or Ethan Davies, who fielded some punts today (I saw one from Farrell).
The quarterbacks, running backs and inside receivers (like Billy Kemp) again worked on handoff/option drills. Wide receivers went through their typical individual drills, and did work with the DBs on a few things, though no throws were being made on those drills, so they weren't exactly 1 on 1's. The offensive line again did their individual work. Not a lot of takeways from me there, honestly. They're still working to find the starting five and the rotation guys. As I said on the podcast last night, my guess right now, if everyone is healthy, would be Logan Taylor, John Paul Flores, Ty Furnish, Noah Josey and Jonathan Leech, with Jestus Johnson, Charlie Patterson and Derek Devine the next into the rotation. One of those three could end up a starter for sure, especially if there's a nagging injury to one of the first five I mentioned, and that could also determine where Flores ends up playing. It feels like a starting five is coming into focus, but we still have two weeks to go until we find out for sure.
I watched the tight ends for a time too. It feels like there's a lot of youth in that group, but there's potential there, too. The position has relied on transfers to start in recent years, but I feel like the younger guys like Jack Witmer and Karson Gay could develop into something in the next year or two.
Today was the our second-to-last open practice of camp, and because the weather cooperated, we were back outside. My notes are going to be shorter than normal because the period flew by and it was a bit harder to keep track of across the two fields. We'll get Coach Rudzinski at 6pm, as well as players.
Health
Yellow Jerseys: Grant Misch, Ben Smiley, Antonio Clary, Coen King, Houston Curry
Green Jerseys: Snoop Amaama, Logan Taylor, Zach Teter, Ronnie Walker
As always, this isn't a comprehensive list, just the guys I saw. I think this was most of them today. Guys like King, Clary and Davis were off on the side working with trainers when I was watching. McKale Boley is back in a blue jersey for what feels like the first time in a while, which is a good sign for the young lineman. Ronnie Walker is still in green, but he went through RB drills and looks pretty fluid to me. Probably a ways to go before he's totally cleared, but it seems that his recovery is going well.
Anthony Johnson opened practice with the ceremonial "Hoo Jacks" today.
After stretching, a big portion of the team went into kickoff and kickoff coverage work. I saw at least one onside kick in there, and noticed that Keytaon Thompson is on the "hands team" part of the coverage group, along with James Jackson and others. Will Bettridge and Brendan Farrell both kicked, as we've seen through camp and in Saturday's scrimmage. Demick Starling was again the first returner out, and if I had to bet right now, I'd say he's going to be a primary kick returner on this team. Elliott said that he's more comfortable returning kicks than punts at the moment, so perhaps that job goes to Devin Chandler or Ethan Davies, who fielded some punts today (I saw one from Farrell).
The quarterbacks, running backs and inside receivers (like Billy Kemp) again worked on handoff/option drills. Wide receivers went through their typical individual drills, and did work with the DBs on a few things, though no throws were being made on those drills, so they weren't exactly 1 on 1's. The offensive line again did their individual work. Not a lot of takeways from me there, honestly. They're still working to find the starting five and the rotation guys. As I said on the podcast last night, my guess right now, if everyone is healthy, would be Logan Taylor, John Paul Flores, Ty Furnish, Noah Josey and Jonathan Leech, with Jestus Johnson, Charlie Patterson and Derek Devine the next into the rotation. One of those three could end up a starter for sure, especially if there's a nagging injury to one of the first five I mentioned, and that could also determine where Flores ends up playing. It feels like a starting five is coming into focus, but we still have two weeks to go until we find out for sure.
I watched the tight ends for a time too. It feels like there's a lot of youth in that group, but there's potential there, too. The position has relied on transfers to start in recent years, but I feel like the younger guys like Jack Witmer and Karson Gay could develop into something in the next year or two.
