Home Football Practice Report Day 1

Practice Report Day 1

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Some notes from practice, which was overall an uneventful day.

Regarding Isaac Seumalo and the offensive line, which seems to be a main concern of many: he practiced today as mentioned in other outlets, but only briefly and then Delp filled in for him. The first unit is otherwise the same as the end of last season and during spring. The second unit, right to left, was Will Hopkins, Drew Clarkson, Mason Jonson, Brayden Kearsley, and Bobby Keenan.

As I expected, the WRs stood out today. Victor Bolden was the best offensive player on the field today, burning veteran DBs like Larry Scott by running pinpoint routes. Jordan Villamin looked fantastic. He dropped weight and looks to be moving very well. Guyton looks good, and both players and coaches are high on him (as am I, and Jack). Another receiver (TE) who had a big day catching passes was Brent Vanderveen. He’s transitioning into the position well, though he needs to become a better blocker. Vanderveen could add much needed depth, and if he keeps it up, possibly allow Nall to move to defense or RB (with Songy and Cook gone, they can use an extra LB and RB more than a TE). Tanner Sanders is small but runs polished routes.

Nick Mitchell and Seth Collins were both impressive throwing the ball today. Mitchell was better today, but not enough to separate himself after just one day. We know the media and the coach want Collins to be the guy, so he likely will be the guy. Both QBs were able to complete well-covered deep out routes. These were one on one drills without pads, so take it with a grain of salt. Again, I reiterate that the QB “problem” is overblown. At this point, we have to assume McMaryion is out of the race. His body language and verbal language on media day suggested this, too. He was not sharp today, mostly practicing with a mediocre second unit, which could have had something to do with that. There is still time for him to do something, but he’s quickly becoming an afterthought. Injury is likely the only way he sees the field. Let’s not rule out Garretson‘s impact, which will make this transition even smoother than people think:

Though he will be limited to the sideline come game days, Garretson boasts two assets — encyclopedic knowledge of the playbook and significant college experience — that Seth Collins, Nick Mitchell and Marcus McMaryion don’t possess.

Garrett Owens looked good kicking the ball made a couple of deep kicks. P Nick Porebski was the holder. Deltron Sands looks like a great receiving back, very fluid in his routes.

The structure of practice has changed as well. Practice was divided into two groups to maximize efficiency and give the 2s some more reps and experience. The veterans went first, and as expected, they were crisper with better tempo and execution. The younger players followed and the coaches slowed things down, helping them out with the fine details. This created an efficient scenario where everyone received good reps and was involved. This will likely change as camp moves along and the 1s get more of the reps, but for the first few practices it’s a great plan because the 2s will have gained solid knowledge and experience that they can bring into next year or and injury/emergency situation.

Overall practice was crisp and efficient compared to Spring practice.

29 COMMENTS

  1. I’m curious to see in Fall Camp:

    1) Who starts on the O-Line? The health of Seumalo, who’s the weakest link? Are they tougher and stronger than the past?

    2) Who will play Linebacker & what the depth/rotation will look like with Songy gone?

    3) At RB, after Stom Barr-Woods and Chris Brown, who will emerge?

    4) What will the Special Teams look like? Andersen stresses winning on Special Teams. Who will become the returners? Will they attack and be aggressive? When was the last time Riley’s team blocked a punt or a PAT?

    5) Which freshmen will be ready to play, who will redshirt?

  2. For those who dont follow twitter, another 4* DB put OSU in his top 7 last night. Jordan Parker out of Pittsburg, CA. Significant because his teammate, another 4* DB, Shurod Thompson also has OSU in his top 7. He’s also good friends with current Beav Xavier Crawford, and there’s the Pittsburg/Ken Simonton connection as well.

    Parker and Thompson have been thought of as a package deal pairing in the past, but both have committed and de-committed to other Pac teams in the past year (UCLA/CAL)

    Anyway, they’re a couple of talented guys, in a position of need, to keep an eye on

  3. Is practice open to the public? I envisioned the team in Reser with the gates locked and campus security skulking around looking for retired old guys like me peeking through the fences.

    • Only open yesterday and the 15th. Others are closed for the most part, except on family day it’s partially open.

      By all means though, you should skulk and send reports on what you can see :)

  4. I’ve enjoyed going to practices in past years and submitting a few reports to AB. It was at a practice last year early on that I had a person, (who knew) tell me unequivocally that Issac was out for the season. I posted it to AB and other outlets were weeks behind us with the news.

    I honestly don’t understand why Anderson has closed out the fans. What’s the reason? Maybe once the PAC 12 season starts, maybe, if we’re winning and a threat, but now?

    • Fans are starting to make the media obsolete.

      I think closed practices are more the norm with most programs. Keeps plays more secretive. Avoids giving away too much strategy to opponents. Riley was more of an exception when he had open practices. Its too bad, i used to enjoy watching them in the summer, but it will be better for the team.

      • Those seem to be good points, Bblazer. Additionally, I feel closed practices (along with keeping the media away from freshmen, even if for only Spring) send a message to the SA’s. Andersen seems to want efficient, fast paced practices and adding privacy just reinforces the businesslike approach.

        OTOH, I don’t like seeing limits on opportunities for Silver and others to gather info for reports here.

        There are many ways to impress the need for focus on players, limiting media contact is on that list. One of the few positive moves made by Riley in the last few years was when he excluded media from the team mealtimes. Probably helped the budget as well given Lindsay’s appetite!

    • Tight end Caleb Smith says the energy is greater than it was during his time playing for Riley’s coaching staff.

      “You can feel a change in the program,” the 6-6, 265-pound senior says. “As soon as Coach Andersen got here and we got a chance to talk to him, he got everybody fired up.”

      Under Riley, Smith says, “It felt to me we weren’t pushing as hard as we should have been. It wasn’t that we weren’t setting the goals high enough; we just weren’t doing what we need to do to get here. Coach Andersen has brought a lot of the energy, the fire we need to get things rolling, to get guys motivated to do great things.”

    • I’m wondering if it’s possible that Brown and Cook’s injuries were a result of perhaps pushing it too hard with their training.

  5. New on here! So I know Cook’s out for the season but I thought I saw that C Brown should be ready for Weber St. ?! I will say that seeing Jaylynn Bailey and Damien Haskins in the Spring, I think they could be effective, especially against an FCS team in a back-up role.

    I also was one of the guys last season who wished that R Nall was moved to LB but now when you imagine the possibilities with him at the “Y” position, (especially in a slot whether it be 4 wide or 3 wide) short fly motion as a lead blocker or running the ball, lead blocking for a sweeper coming from the other side and/or catching the football in the seams. I think he is a huge weapon, especially when you pair him in formations with 3 other speedy receivers. The opponent’s defense now must account for all of the players (with all of their different skill sets) and all of the action in the backfield, plus the threat of Seth (I’m just gonna call it like I see it, he gives us the best chance to win, so I think he’ll be the starter). That could be a really effective position for Nall! Plus, he can motion to the backfield and be a threat as a runner, blocker, receiver out of the backfield! Love the possibilities!

    Go Beavs!

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