Practice In General: It was great to see T Jordan, & Roach back for full go. Practice centered mostly on technique, then 7 on 7's and then 11 on 11, and finally goal line. It is obvious that McGee has inserted his own style in the offense. Still the basic formations of last year, however, we ran Cobb as the front man in an I. Seemed to also install or reinstall an I formation. Cobb actually got one carry in this formation during scrimmaging.
The Day ended when Fitz stopped the sprinting by asking Demos to kick a 30 yard FG. If he made it, sprints would be over. If he missed it, 90+ guys would have to do another 6-8 100 yard sprints. Demos sailed it through.
Unit Breakdowns:
QB: Consistency is what is needed. Brewer looked more comfortable today. CJ still out with ankle problem.
Kafka, like Brewer, just needs more consistency throwing. They're freshmen so it helps that both are getting plenty of reps. Grade: Passing
RB: Sutton looks much better this year at Kenosha than last year's camp. It's pretty easy to see who we are going to be depending on this year. Jordan ran strong and IMO is our Number 2 back. Roberson came back also and looked quick. Conteh is running strong enough to challenge anyone other than Sutton for a spot IMO. No Depth problems here: Grade A
OL: Our Offensive Line looked much better today than the previous day. The starting 5 is Thiry, Tripodi, Rees, Belding, Keenan. Tripodi is definately the most improved.
I would say the Alaskan King Crum has worked his way as our 6th most dependable OL and looks like we can count on him for quality minutes against any team. Mattes looks strong but is probably a year away. Rucks is hurt. Boyle will be redshirted. Diaz is exceptionally quick for an OL but lacks the upper body strength at this time. All others not mentioned need work. Depth is the central question here.
Kenosha Grade so far: B but with movement upward.
WR: From Thompson to Frymire, I think they will all get minutes. Thompson stood out today from the others and seems to be having a very good camp. Carl Fisher is out. All other wr appear to be healthy.
Thompson, Ward, Herbert, Peterman, Lane, TJ are all getting plenty of snaps. TJ wins the sprints.
Grade: B+
Special Teams
Punting: Open, as far as I'm concerned, nobody has really emerged. This will be a weakspot going into Oxford.
Kicking: Howells looks sharp. Demos is number 2 right now and is exclusively kicking. I doubt he punts, heck he looks like a kicker. Demos booms things but it will be hard to displace Howells if he continues his consistencies of Kenosha. Fitz gave Demos a surprise and Demos responded by saving his whole team from having to run 6-8 more sprints [see above].
Kickoff team: Looks like Fitz is using veterans on this unit.
Punt Return: Cole came back today and received punts. So did Smith and Yarborough.
Grade: B- Punting is the unclearity hear.
DL:
Koehn had the best day. Wooton had a nice stop of Sutton. Ngene appears to be 100% healthy this year.
Kennedy is getting plenty of reps since Hahn, Gill, Anderson, Clark are all out. This unit appears with a different physical look this year. More on that on the front page article.
Grade: B
LB: Started the day for the second day in a row going over the 3-4. Roach came back today. Basically the reps been going to Kadela, Eaton, Black, Dinard and Roach.
Grade: Unclear until Full contact scrimmage
DB: Heinz is solid. Battle should suit up after his class is over I believe [should suit up Monday I heard]
Smitty doesn't appear to be 100% healthy. Cole Cat didn't get many reps.
Grade: Unclear since no full contact yet.
Turk throws out Redbirds or Redhawks to the Wildcat who impressed the most today:
Redbird awards go to the parents in attendance supporting their sons. More parents there than I can remember before.
Also a redbird gets thrown to the entire team for seemingly being very focused at this early point of the season.
And the last Redbird gets thrown to T Jordan. It was nice seeing his hard running once again.