Good afternoon! Just left McCue and fall camp is officially underway for UVa. We’ll be back over there in a bit to interview some players along with Tony Elliott, but here are my takeaways from the brief period open to the media today:
-Mike Hollins, appropriately, broke the team down to begin practice.
-All we got to see today was the opening stretching period and about 2.5 sessions. There was quite a bit of special teams and individual work in those periods, with no team vs team stuff in there.
-Oddly, they switched the Jersey colors, so the offense wears white and the defense wears blue now. Certainly going to look different in the highlights.
-The team is as healthy as I’ve seen them to open fall camp. It’s worth noting that the off-season came early for UVa, so guys had their surgeries earlier and so on, allowing for that team to be healthier now. With that said there were three guys in yellow jerseys on the bike, not participating: McKale Boley, Will Simpkins and Donovan Johnson.
-There were a few other players in green pennies, but participating: Chico Bennett, Houston Curry and Kendall Cross. There may have been one or two others out there, hard to see everyone across 3 fields.
-As for players who looked healthy, Amaad Foston was out there without a brace, and Dak Twitty had a brace on but was moving well.
-I spent most of my team watching skill guys mostly doing ball security but I watched the offensive line for a bit too. Heffernan seems very detail oriented and was doing a lot of hands on instruction.
-All if the coaches were preaching urgency today, getting in and out of drills, etc. Keith Gaither made the receiver group so up downs after they were a little slow to get lined up for a drill.
-In ball security drills, TeKai Kirby had a “welcome to college football” moment. He was stripped by Gaither in a ball security drill and didn’t go fall on the loose ball, and both Gaither and Elliott let him have it and had him fall on two loose balls.
-The QB room looks thin. Three scholarship guys and walk-ons. Rayman wasn’t working with the QBs when I watched, but he was the holder on FG work.
-If Demick Starling can put it all together..man. He just has elite speed.
-Suderian Harrison looks the part from what I saw. Quick and smooth out there. TyLyric Coleman has the frame to develop into a big-time player, he looks very lanky out there. And freshman RB Donte Hawthorne looks more like a linebacker than a RB. He’s huge.
If I think of anything else, I’ll add it. Open practice #2 is on Friday evening.
-Mike Hollins, appropriately, broke the team down to begin practice.
-All we got to see today was the opening stretching period and about 2.5 sessions. There was quite a bit of special teams and individual work in those periods, with no team vs team stuff in there.
-Oddly, they switched the Jersey colors, so the offense wears white and the defense wears blue now. Certainly going to look different in the highlights.
-The team is as healthy as I’ve seen them to open fall camp. It’s worth noting that the off-season came early for UVa, so guys had their surgeries earlier and so on, allowing for that team to be healthier now. With that said there were three guys in yellow jerseys on the bike, not participating: McKale Boley, Will Simpkins and Donovan Johnson.
-There were a few other players in green pennies, but participating: Chico Bennett, Houston Curry and Kendall Cross. There may have been one or two others out there, hard to see everyone across 3 fields.
-As for players who looked healthy, Amaad Foston was out there without a brace, and Dak Twitty had a brace on but was moving well.
-I spent most of my team watching skill guys mostly doing ball security but I watched the offensive line for a bit too. Heffernan seems very detail oriented and was doing a lot of hands on instruction.
-All if the coaches were preaching urgency today, getting in and out of drills, etc. Keith Gaither made the receiver group so up downs after they were a little slow to get lined up for a drill.
-In ball security drills, TeKai Kirby had a “welcome to college football” moment. He was stripped by Gaither in a ball security drill and didn’t go fall on the loose ball, and both Gaither and Elliott let him have it and had him fall on two loose balls.
-The QB room looks thin. Three scholarship guys and walk-ons. Rayman wasn’t working with the QBs when I watched, but he was the holder on FG work.
-If Demick Starling can put it all together..man. He just has elite speed.
-Suderian Harrison looks the part from what I saw. Quick and smooth out there. TyLyric Coleman has the frame to develop into a big-time player, he looks very lanky out there. And freshman RB Donte Hawthorne looks more like a linebacker than a RB. He’s huge.
If I think of anything else, I’ll add it. Open practice #2 is on Friday evening.
