I'm on my break during the closed portion of practice before heading back over to McCue in a few minutes. We get Tony Elliott and a few players this evening. Today's notes are light, as we mostly only saw individual work.
Updates on health since Friday:
Jonathan Leech went from a yellow jersey to green, but was participating in O-Line drills. Tujague had them working on double-team blocks, among other things. Logan Taylor was back in his normal jersey, and was full go after being in green the other day.
-A few guys were in yellow and didn't really seem to be participating when I was watching: James Jackson, Amaad Foston, Jonas Sanker and McKale Boley. They were all in pads and it didn't seem like they had anything super serious going on. Speaking of injuries, Ronnie Walker and Dak Twitty were watching practice from the indoor facility.
-Billy Kemp was still in green, but looked good to me. I think it's just a "no contact" thing if they're hitting.
Notes:
-Of the limited "team" action we saw, the coaching staff was working on punts and punt block/return. Returners included Devin Chandler, who seemed to get quite a bit of the work, and Ethan Davies.
-I mentioned it the other day, but special teams appears to be an "all hands on deck" thing from what I've seen. Some of the position groups were elsewhere during punt block and return, but Sintim, Elliott, Charles Mack, Hagans and others were involved in the special teams work, in addition to ST coordinator Keith Gaither.
-UVa did field goal work early again. And again, it seems like Bettridge might be the guy there. He nailed his first field goal attempt from 32 yards out.
-I spent some time watching the offensive line and front 7 do individual work. Logan Taylor is very impressive physically, and looks the part of a starting tackle at this level. On the defensive side, the line looked good, and the linebackers definitely look to be in great shape. Stevie Bracey stood out from a physicality standpoint.
-As the open period ended, Coaches Gaither and Elliott were working with the running backs, providing a lot of instruction. Two things. First, Perris Jones looks like a different guy. He's always moved well, but he looks much more imposing than he did before, from my memory at least. And second, while I'm not sure how much he'll contribute this year, freshman RB Xavier Brown might be one to watch. He's a little vertical on his carries, and isn't as bendy as other backs, but he can move. He seems like a guy that can really get up to speed in the open field.
That's it from the open period. I'll be back over there in a few minutes to do some interviews and hear from Coach Elliott.
Updates on health since Friday:
Jonathan Leech went from a yellow jersey to green, but was participating in O-Line drills. Tujague had them working on double-team blocks, among other things. Logan Taylor was back in his normal jersey, and was full go after being in green the other day.
-A few guys were in yellow and didn't really seem to be participating when I was watching: James Jackson, Amaad Foston, Jonas Sanker and McKale Boley. They were all in pads and it didn't seem like they had anything super serious going on. Speaking of injuries, Ronnie Walker and Dak Twitty were watching practice from the indoor facility.
-Billy Kemp was still in green, but looked good to me. I think it's just a "no contact" thing if they're hitting.
Notes:
-Of the limited "team" action we saw, the coaching staff was working on punts and punt block/return. Returners included Devin Chandler, who seemed to get quite a bit of the work, and Ethan Davies.
-I mentioned it the other day, but special teams appears to be an "all hands on deck" thing from what I've seen. Some of the position groups were elsewhere during punt block and return, but Sintim, Elliott, Charles Mack, Hagans and others were involved in the special teams work, in addition to ST coordinator Keith Gaither.
-UVa did field goal work early again. And again, it seems like Bettridge might be the guy there. He nailed his first field goal attempt from 32 yards out.
-I spent some time watching the offensive line and front 7 do individual work. Logan Taylor is very impressive physically, and looks the part of a starting tackle at this level. On the defensive side, the line looked good, and the linebackers definitely look to be in great shape. Stevie Bracey stood out from a physicality standpoint.
-As the open period ended, Coaches Gaither and Elliott were working with the running backs, providing a lot of instruction. Two things. First, Perris Jones looks like a different guy. He's always moved well, but he looks much more imposing than he did before, from my memory at least. And second, while I'm not sure how much he'll contribute this year, freshman RB Xavier Brown might be one to watch. He's a little vertical on his carries, and isn't as bendy as other backs, but he can move. He seems like a guy that can really get up to speed in the open field.
That's it from the open period. I'll be back over there in a few minutes to do some interviews and hear from Coach Elliott.
