04/02/23 Practice Update
I was at most of today's practice and here are some observations.
They practiced indoors today, which is super annoying because it's hard to see everything from field level. It was a beautiful, sunny day too. I'm guessing they went indoors to better showcase a hyped atmosphere to recruits, of which there were quite a few present.
Practice was chippy, with the coaches having to separate players on a handful of occasions. That doesn't bother me in the least as long as no one gets hurt. It's nice to see the energy. I didn't see the yellow Bring Your Own Juice jersey so maybe they've retired that.
Practice alternated between drills and live sessions. There might have been one more live session after I left but I saw a lot in the hour and 45 minutes I was there.
Coach mentioned in the spring presser that they're doing an A-B-C thing where starters will scrimmage less and backups more, but to the naked eye this looked like every other practice I've ever attended. The guys you would expect to be the ones were out there together, minus only those not dressed. For example the first O-line was Buss, Lippe, Nygra, Champe and Potter left to right, with Z not dressed today. Maybe they played the ones more today due to the large audience. By the way, I think the second O-line was Evan Malcore, Luke Pinnick, Seth Thompson, Matt Schooley and Abiathar Curry left to right.
Rocky was not dressed today but was out there in shorts, helping out. He uncorked a couple of effortless 50 yarders while playing catch. He looks ready to go and I believe coach recently said he should be cleared soon. Hampton and Cremascoli took about 80% of the reps while I was there, with Lynch getting the rest. Both had some nice throws but did not look spectacular, as is often the case in practice.
All four backs (Brown, Williams, Nash and Dozier) took some reps. Brown looked really good to me. As always with backs, it depends which O-line they're running behind. Sometimes they're getting crushed the second they get the ball.
Tristen Tewes and JUCO transfer Grayson Barnes were out there a lot at tight end with the ones. I also saw a little of George Gumbs and Izu Ozoh. Gumbs is listed in the roster as a wideout but worked exclusively with the tight ends. Tewes had a few catches including at least one TD. Barnes didn't do anything that I noticed, but they are clearly trying to get him up to speed. Miles Joiner was not dressed. Brock Lampe was in a lot at fullback.
Trayvon Rudolph did not scrimmage but went through drills and looked awesome. What an impact he'll have if fully healthy. Rutkiewicz is just a blast to watch. He's a one-man energy machine who makes plays every time he touches the ball. He reminds me of, dare I say it, PJ Fleck in terms of both energy and ability. New transfer Davis Patterson looks interesting. He's twitchy and quick for such a tall guy. The guys getting the most work with the ones were Rutkiewicz, Patterson, Keyshaun Pipkin, Eli Reed and Messiah Travis. Travis caught a TD pass in the back middle of the end zone.
The D-line was the usual suspects Raishein Thomas, Pierce Oppong, James Ester, Devonte O'Malley, Cade Haberman, etc. JUCO end Neveah Sanders was in some too. Not much to report there. It would be great if Sanders could turn out to be a sack threat.
The top linebackers appeared to be Daveren Rayner and Jaden Dolphin, with Devin Lafayette at Huskie. There were probably some others at Huskie now and then, it was hard to see everything. Transfer Tyler Jackson was with the two's today.
I think Gabriel Amegatcher and Shaad Dabney got most of the first team reps at corner, again hard to see the other side of the field. Jacob Finley and Ameriyun Knighton were with the two's.
It seemed like the top safeties were CJ Brown and Nate Valcarcel. I thought I saw Cyrus McGarrell working with the safeties too.
Both kickers, Kanon Woodill and freshman Zach Gordon, looked pretty good. I was impressed with Gordon's leg. It seemed like the ball really jumped off his foot.
Edit: I forgot to mention returners. They had Rutkiewicz, Pardridge and Dozier returning kicks and all looked pretty good. Of course you want Rudolph back there if possible.
(This post was last modified: 04-02-2023 07:51 PM by NIU1981.)
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04/02/23 Practice Update
