Happy Tuesday, everyone!
We had one of our final practices of Fall Camp that is open to the media this afternoon. I got to see quite a bit in our 30 minutes today though, and I’ve got some notes to share.
Today’s practice was inside again with the rain, which actually helps me a bit because it’s easier to see everything when all groups are on one field.
Health:
-In green (no contact) today: Jonathan Leech, McKale Boley, Mike Hollins, Ronnie Walker, Jaylen Baker
-In yellow today: Charlie Patterson, Ethan Davies, Coen King, William Simpkins, Sean Moore, Michael Diatta.
-Elliott mentioned after Saturday’s scrimmage that Coen King banged up his elbow and they didn’t know how bad it was. He was dressed out, but in yellow, and had some sort of brace on his arm. One to watch for sure.
-Once practice started, some of the guys in yellow rode the exercise bikes on the side while everyone else practiced.
-Once again, I didn’t see Amaad Foston practicing. Elliott mentioned last week that he was dealing with a knee injury, and those can be tricky. I’ll see if I can get an update.
-On a more positive note, Ronnie Walker seems to be progressing nicely. He’s certainly got some work to do in order to be game ready, but he went through some drills today in a green jersey, and looked pretty good. Also freshman wide receiver Sean Wilson is in the blue jersey after being in green or yellow for most of camp, from what we’ve seen. So that’s a good sign.
Practice Notes:
-Today’s “Hoo-Jacks” to kick off practice were led by linebacker Josh Ahern.
-As we’ve seen throughout camp, special teams work opened the practice, after the loosening-up period. Today, we saw a couple different return drills and some blocking work.
-The first drill I saw was one I’ve actually never seen before. The field goal team lined up for a long field goal (60+ yards), and at the snap, Jared Rayman threw the ball to a return man, standing in the end zone. This is clearly a field-goal return drill, and I’ve never actually seen a team work on that in practice. Demick Starling was the return man in this drill.
-After that, we saw some drills for the return-team gunners. Curome Cox led this one, and from what I could tell, the drill was designed to have the return team blockers, seal the opposing gunners to the outside to create lanes and then once the returner got by, to flip their block to the other side, blocking the gunner away from the returner. The way they were teaching this one made it seem like they were trying to make sure players know the techniques needed to switch the block angle without getting block-in-the-back calls.
-Speaking of Coach Cox, he and Keith Gaither took the lead on a lot of the special teams work I saw today, including some return drills.
-Eventually, we would see some kick return periods with full 11 on 11 teams, but no hitting. There were also no real kickoffs since we were inside; there would be a dummy kickoff and then Coach Hagans or someone else would throw the ball up to the return man. We saw the same group of returners, led primarily by Starling and Devin Chandler. The tight end group worked as the “up-men” in those drills, so Josh Rawlings, Jack Witmer, Sackett Wood and Grant Misch, from what I saw. Mike Green was also working with this group.
-I also noticed Coach Elliott collaborating with Drew Meyer on what he wanted to see from special teams groups after watching the return drill, and it seemed to be a productive conversation about splits or block angles or something. Coach Elliott is always coaching it seems, even other coaches.
-Then, we broke into individual group drills. The offensive line ran through what looked like typical O-Line drills to me. Probably the most-relevant note here is the first group of offensive linemen to go through the drill was (left to right): Logan Taylor, John Paul Flores, Ty Furnish, Noah Josey and Derek Devine. We’re still more than two weeks away from gameday, but this seems like it could be close to a starting five, though Leech wasn’t participating, and we’ve seen Jestus Johnson working with the first team at guard at times. Taylor and Josey weren’t in blue for the scrimmage Saturday, so it was good to see them back out there.
-The defense did something interesting today, basically rotating from station to station with different coaches, to work on different things. This was a heavy technique-focused period. Coach Rudzinski (and I think Cox, as well) was at the station closest to me, and seemed to be working on back pedaling or dropping into coverage, turning, and making a tackle on a dummy. I saw him take several different position groups through his drill including DBs and LBs, and the drill changed based on which group of personnel came through. So when the defensive linemen came through, it was mostly a tackling drill (with dummies) and no dropping into coverage elements.
-The same was true of the next few stations. In the corner, Chris Slade led a tackling technique drill, where defenders would make diving tackles of dummies onto a mat. And on the other side of the field, Kevin Downing and Charles Mack had a station focused on getting off a block and chasing. Clint Sintim worked on that side too, having players get in their stance and then pulling a dummy back (like an OL would move back at the snap) to test their instincts and get-off speed. It was interesting to see the defensive groups go through the rotation and get coached by different guys, but it was all technique-driven works, which speaks to the focus on fundamentals that we’ve heard from Elliott, his staff and the players since they got here.
-On the offensive side, there was more focus on fundamentals. There was more ball security work for the backs. The tight ends also had a ball security period, where they would have to catch, turn and run through lines of teammates trying to strip the ball away.
-The quarterbacks, running backs and some receivers (Billy Kemp, for example) worked on an option drill. A receiver would go in motion, the QB would hand the ball off to the running back and flare out to one side with the receiver that went in motion. Taylor Lamb or another QB would toss the QB another football and he would do a speed option pitch to the wide receiver. It’s a fun drill to watch, and makes sense given some of the run concepts we covered in the Clemson offense film rooms last month. There are a lot of pitches to backs on the edge, with quarterbacks also able to read the edge defender and keep the ball if necessary.
-One thing I noticed today that I don’t remember seeing before is this blue mat that the quarterbacks have for some of these drills. It gets placed down in front of them, and has the five offensive linemen spots marked, I guess so that when QB’s or RB’s are running these drills without linemen, they make sure they’re getting into the right lanes or getting wide enough on outside runs, etc. Certainly seems like a helpful piece of equipment to have.
-Finally, I wrapped the open period by watching the wide receivers group. Coach Hagans had these cones that were about the size of big plastic trash cans set up, and the receivers had to weave around them and then make a catch. Hagans was really hands-on in the drill, and stopped it a few times to provide hands-on instruction on technique, including to veterans like Keytaon Thompson and Lavel Davis. Those two guys went back and did the drill again after receiving the coaching, and it seems like they worked out whatever needed to be changed. Both Hagans and Elliott were coaching the receivers on technique, specifically dipping the inside shoulder when going around the obstacles, which seemed to be the focus of the drill. This would be useful when running a route into traffic around defenders, and trying to avoid contacting them and getting re-routed before a break on a route. But in watching these drills, you can see why UVa’s receivers have been so productive over the past several years. It’s not just talent, which they’ve certainly upgraded over the past few cycles, but the level of tutoring that’s going on at that position, and the focus on details.
Other Notes:
-Again, NFL teams were represented at practice. Today, I saw scouts from the Jaguars, Texans, Broncos and Ravens
-Not really football related, but it’s cool seeing all the coach’s kids and families out at practice. Elliott’s sons and Hagans’ sons are always around, and those kids love to wear some baseball jerseys. Today they were repping Shohei Otani, Randy Johnson (Diamondbacks), and a Yankees jersey.
-Tonight, we hear from Des Kitchings for the second time since camp opened. We’ll get to talk to UVa’s OC and select players at the top of the hour.
We had one of our final practices of Fall Camp that is open to the media this afternoon. I got to see quite a bit in our 30 minutes today though, and I’ve got some notes to share.
Today’s practice was inside again with the rain, which actually helps me a bit because it’s easier to see everything when all groups are on one field.
Health:
-In green (no contact) today: Jonathan Leech, McKale Boley, Mike Hollins, Ronnie Walker, Jaylen Baker
-In yellow today: Charlie Patterson, Ethan Davies, Coen King, William Simpkins, Sean Moore, Michael Diatta.
-Elliott mentioned after Saturday’s scrimmage that Coen King banged up his elbow and they didn’t know how bad it was. He was dressed out, but in yellow, and had some sort of brace on his arm. One to watch for sure.
-Once practice started, some of the guys in yellow rode the exercise bikes on the side while everyone else practiced.
-Once again, I didn’t see Amaad Foston practicing. Elliott mentioned last week that he was dealing with a knee injury, and those can be tricky. I’ll see if I can get an update.
-On a more positive note, Ronnie Walker seems to be progressing nicely. He’s certainly got some work to do in order to be game ready, but he went through some drills today in a green jersey, and looked pretty good. Also freshman wide receiver Sean Wilson is in the blue jersey after being in green or yellow for most of camp, from what we’ve seen. So that’s a good sign.
Practice Notes:
-Today’s “Hoo-Jacks” to kick off practice were led by linebacker Josh Ahern.
-As we’ve seen throughout camp, special teams work opened the practice, after the loosening-up period. Today, we saw a couple different return drills and some blocking work.
-The first drill I saw was one I’ve actually never seen before. The field goal team lined up for a long field goal (60+ yards), and at the snap, Jared Rayman threw the ball to a return man, standing in the end zone. This is clearly a field-goal return drill, and I’ve never actually seen a team work on that in practice. Demick Starling was the return man in this drill.
-After that, we saw some drills for the return-team gunners. Curome Cox led this one, and from what I could tell, the drill was designed to have the return team blockers, seal the opposing gunners to the outside to create lanes and then once the returner got by, to flip their block to the other side, blocking the gunner away from the returner. The way they were teaching this one made it seem like they were trying to make sure players know the techniques needed to switch the block angle without getting block-in-the-back calls.
-Speaking of Coach Cox, he and Keith Gaither took the lead on a lot of the special teams work I saw today, including some return drills.
-Eventually, we would see some kick return periods with full 11 on 11 teams, but no hitting. There were also no real kickoffs since we were inside; there would be a dummy kickoff and then Coach Hagans or someone else would throw the ball up to the return man. We saw the same group of returners, led primarily by Starling and Devin Chandler. The tight end group worked as the “up-men” in those drills, so Josh Rawlings, Jack Witmer, Sackett Wood and Grant Misch, from what I saw. Mike Green was also working with this group.
-I also noticed Coach Elliott collaborating with Drew Meyer on what he wanted to see from special teams groups after watching the return drill, and it seemed to be a productive conversation about splits or block angles or something. Coach Elliott is always coaching it seems, even other coaches.
-Then, we broke into individual group drills. The offensive line ran through what looked like typical O-Line drills to me. Probably the most-relevant note here is the first group of offensive linemen to go through the drill was (left to right): Logan Taylor, John Paul Flores, Ty Furnish, Noah Josey and Derek Devine. We’re still more than two weeks away from gameday, but this seems like it could be close to a starting five, though Leech wasn’t participating, and we’ve seen Jestus Johnson working with the first team at guard at times. Taylor and Josey weren’t in blue for the scrimmage Saturday, so it was good to see them back out there.
-The defense did something interesting today, basically rotating from station to station with different coaches, to work on different things. This was a heavy technique-focused period. Coach Rudzinski (and I think Cox, as well) was at the station closest to me, and seemed to be working on back pedaling or dropping into coverage, turning, and making a tackle on a dummy. I saw him take several different position groups through his drill including DBs and LBs, and the drill changed based on which group of personnel came through. So when the defensive linemen came through, it was mostly a tackling drill (with dummies) and no dropping into coverage elements.
-The same was true of the next few stations. In the corner, Chris Slade led a tackling technique drill, where defenders would make diving tackles of dummies onto a mat. And on the other side of the field, Kevin Downing and Charles Mack had a station focused on getting off a block and chasing. Clint Sintim worked on that side too, having players get in their stance and then pulling a dummy back (like an OL would move back at the snap) to test their instincts and get-off speed. It was interesting to see the defensive groups go through the rotation and get coached by different guys, but it was all technique-driven works, which speaks to the focus on fundamentals that we’ve heard from Elliott, his staff and the players since they got here.
-On the offensive side, there was more focus on fundamentals. There was more ball security work for the backs. The tight ends also had a ball security period, where they would have to catch, turn and run through lines of teammates trying to strip the ball away.
-The quarterbacks, running backs and some receivers (Billy Kemp, for example) worked on an option drill. A receiver would go in motion, the QB would hand the ball off to the running back and flare out to one side with the receiver that went in motion. Taylor Lamb or another QB would toss the QB another football and he would do a speed option pitch to the wide receiver. It’s a fun drill to watch, and makes sense given some of the run concepts we covered in the Clemson offense film rooms last month. There are a lot of pitches to backs on the edge, with quarterbacks also able to read the edge defender and keep the ball if necessary.
-One thing I noticed today that I don’t remember seeing before is this blue mat that the quarterbacks have for some of these drills. It gets placed down in front of them, and has the five offensive linemen spots marked, I guess so that when QB’s or RB’s are running these drills without linemen, they make sure they’re getting into the right lanes or getting wide enough on outside runs, etc. Certainly seems like a helpful piece of equipment to have.
-Finally, I wrapped the open period by watching the wide receivers group. Coach Hagans had these cones that were about the size of big plastic trash cans set up, and the receivers had to weave around them and then make a catch. Hagans was really hands-on in the drill, and stopped it a few times to provide hands-on instruction on technique, including to veterans like Keytaon Thompson and Lavel Davis. Those two guys went back and did the drill again after receiving the coaching, and it seems like they worked out whatever needed to be changed. Both Hagans and Elliott were coaching the receivers on technique, specifically dipping the inside shoulder when going around the obstacles, which seemed to be the focus of the drill. This would be useful when running a route into traffic around defenders, and trying to avoid contacting them and getting re-routed before a break on a route. But in watching these drills, you can see why UVa’s receivers have been so productive over the past several years. It’s not just talent, which they’ve certainly upgraded over the past few cycles, but the level of tutoring that’s going on at that position, and the focus on details.
Other Notes:
-Again, NFL teams were represented at practice. Today, I saw scouts from the Jaguars, Texans, Broncos and Ravens
-Not really football related, but it’s cool seeing all the coach’s kids and families out at practice. Elliott’s sons and Hagans’ sons are always around, and those kids love to wear some baseball jerseys. Today they were repping Shohei Otani, Randy Johnson (Diamondbacks), and a Yankees jersey.
-Tonight, we hear from Des Kitchings for the second time since camp opened. We’ll get to talk to UVa’s OC and select players at the top of the hour.
