End of Camp Notes

From Bone. Thanks for this.

A few updates now that camp has officially ended.
• Vanderveen appears to have the backup spot locked up. After having a pretty good scrimmage, he has continued to play with more and more confidence. Looks much better than Del Rio at this point.
• It doesn’t sound like there will be a redemption season for Romaine. Let the Garrett Owens show begin.
• Ending fall camp with very few injuries. Even with the increase in contact in practice
• Bolden and Mullaney are locks to start at receiver. Gilmore and Jarmon will probably see a lot of reps in the game because Jarmon was out for about a week. Both Mullaney and Bolen have looked good since they started practicing again.
• My under the radar receiver who I think could end up making an impact down the road is Kendall Hill. Converted safety who has had knee injuries the last two years. Very smooth athlete, good size, with great coordination. It might not be this year because he is still learning the playbook, but I like what I see.
• We will probably only see Haskins in goal line and short yardage situations, he is mostly working with the scout team.
Here is how the defense is looking.
Defensive Tackle
• They have done a good job at controlling the line of scrimmage all camp. They also are constantly in the backfield, especially the defensive tackles. Delva, Hautau, Grimble, all look much improved from last year. I think Peko is going to live up to the hype. He has the type of body you want at defensive tackle, and he (along with Grimble) has very nimble feet. This might be the strongest group we have had at this position in a while. Expect a lot of rotation with theses four players
Defensive ends
• You know what you will get out of Dylan Wynn, a rock solid player who doesn’t makes mistakes. James looks like he could be a contributor and Gwacham looks like he can handle defensive end just fine. The line is just missing a playmaker like they had in Creighton, need to wait for games to see who steps up and takes the spot.
Linebackers
• This might have been the most fun defensive position to watch for me. They are really getting after it, you can see influence that Bray has had on them the last three seasons. They play pissed off, fly to the ball, and really improved in pass coverage. Jabral Johnson will slide to the outside if Doctor or Alexander miss time and Rommel Mageo plays in the middle.
Corners
• Little concerning, only four corners were practicing outside of the scout team. Nelson, Scott, Williams, and Marable. Hunt is still nursing his injury and hasn’t seen the field really at all during camp. Nelson and Scott both are playing at a very high level, especially Nelson. Very rarely are passes completed against him. From what I have seen with the corners as well as the linebackers is the level play up and down the depth chart has improved, I accredit that to better coaching from Perry and Bray. Even players like Marable are playing at a higher a higher level than I anticipated.
Safeties
• Another really deep position group. With the lack of corners, there will be a lot of safeties playing in the nickel and dime packages. In the nickel they bring in Zach Robinson and move Murphy to the down in the slot. Victor Butler’s little brother has been making a ton of plays all camp, he could see some time. I think this is the deepest position group on the team, not linebackers.
In all honesty, I can see this being one of the top defenses in the conference, there just seems to be a different attitude from all levels of the defense. They are returning 9 starters with a ton of starts, improved the big area of weakness at DT, along with the return of Doctor is huge. If they can find someone who is able to get pressure on the quarterback at the end opposite of Wynn, this will be a fun defense to watch.