Practice Report #2
Second practice report (8/10), via Bone:
Here is some of the action that took place at the afternoon practice.
First thing I saw was a lot of players did not participate. Kevin Cummings, Micah Hatfield, Caleb Smith (In a boot), Tyler Perry, Ty Zimmerman, and Mullany at the end of practice was using a single crutch, did not see what happened to him but it doesn’t’ look too serious. And there doesn’t seem to be much concern about the number of players out
Connor Letourneau ?@ConnOregonian11m
Definitely a bit more guys out of pads today. Is Riley concerned? “That’s camp”For the quarterback battle, Vaz worked with the first team today and did not look very impressive. He had some passes batted down at the line during the team session, threw a pick, and missed on a couple of throws. Mannion did not have a great day either, or at least he did not separate himself enough from Vaz. Both quarterbacks relied a lot on dumping off passes to the running backs and tight ends during 7 on 7 and team. Mannion still looks better than Vaz and has improved from last year. His release is quicker and is throwing spirals more consistently.
It was a sloppy day by the receivers Cooks, Mullaney, Villiman, Obum, Boldin, all dropped passes that should have been caught. Cooks had a couple touchdowns, including one a new looking screen play, which was really slick. Victor Boldin is a much better receiver than I thought he would be after watching his high school film. He was getting a lot of reps today.
Sean Martin continues to struggle in coverage and Steven Nelson continues play extremely well. The defense ran a lot of nickel package with Martin playing the nickel back. Larry Scott is also running with the second team along with Dashon Hunt, who played some impressive coverage on Cooks today. I would not be surprised if Martin falls down the depth chart, he has not looked impressive.
The team was in full pads today so it was easier to get a look at the offensive and defensive line and how they are progressing. The offensive line is much further along than the defensive line, Storm, Ward, and Brown all broke through for some good runs. Haskins put the ball on the ground and he did not see many carries during the team session. The second unit offensive line is much better than second unit of defensive line right now; staying healthy will be the key on the d-line.
Based on what I have seen in the couple practices players that I don’t think will redshirt are Victor Boldin, Sean Harlow, Darrel Songy, Dashon Hunt, and maybe Brandon Arnold. All of them are getting a lot of reps with the second unit, not sure if any of them will crack the starting lineup though.
I’m going to try and make it to this evenings practice as well.