Made it out to practice this afternoon. I was busy playing with my new camera a lot when I'm usually watching practice. So I feel like I missed out on a lot today. Especially individual performances on the OL. Oh well, there are plenty of people who will be able to fill in the blanks. Namely those I sat with (Ozzy, TT, my brother).
Anyway, I'll offer what little I can. And remember, the players are in the equivalent of their bra and underwear. Light hitting. No pads. We've seen a lot of mini-camp stars turn into training camp nobodies. But you shouldn't have to take too much heed with my "report". Anyway...........
The tempo of practice is indeed much different than that of the Wannstedt regime. Things move very quickly now. Everybody hustles back and forth. During 7-on-7's and 11-on-11's, there is a sense of urgency between plays. The coaching staff keeps things moving quickly. When the horn sounds and a period of drills is over, everyone hustles to their next drill. It's all quite refreshing.
The defense is much different than what we're used to seeing. For instance, there were times today where we lined up with three down lineman, with three or four other guys manning the gaps (upright). When the ball is snapped, some of the upright guys come, some drop into coverage. Makes the offense think. Sometimes we'd have eight guys right there in the box......and bring every last one of them (though most times one guy would stay home at the LOS and spy).
Lots of lineman dropping back into coverage. Many times we only rushed three guys, with one lineman dropping into coverage. This isn't to say that Saban will be calling things this way in September. Or even August for that matter. We haven't seen anything yet. And yet we've seen so much.
Offensively, it's nice to see the OL doing a pretty good job holding their own. Usually in mini-camp, our DL is destroying the OL and getting all over the QB. But this afternoon the QBs had time to throw. Granted, it wasn't like there wasn't anyone near them. But the QBs weren't being overly harassed. Certainly not the way we've grown accustomed to. As my brother pointed out, there just seems to be a lot more cohesion on the line. Things look, for lack of a better word, organized. I didn't see the missed assignments, the unaccounted for defender, and things of that nature that have plagued our OL for the last few years.
Granted, there are times where the defense does something new (Taylor lining up at LDT, then stunts right and bolts in untouched). But the OL, from 1st to 3rd string, did a nice job of keeping their QB clean. And the QBs did a nice job of getting rid of the ball and not taking sacks.
The starting and second-string OLs remained the same today.
Carey|James|McKinney|Hadnot|McDougle
McIntosh|Whitley|W.Smith|St. Clair|Cook
Individually...........
- Great seeing Kendall Newson back on the field and making a little noise. Kendall, wearing #14, caught a few nice passes today. Hauled in a really nice catch deep over the middle from Frerotte past two defenders in 11-on-11's. Frerotte hung in there and delivered a great throw in tight space. Kendall is coming back from a torn Achilles tendon suffered last August (he had a great shot last year).
- Feeley just missed on a 45-yard bomb to Chambers in 11-on-11's. Chambers lined up outside against Tebucky Jones, who was left in the dust at the snap. Chambers raced past Jones and #20 Mario Edwards (I believe), gaining seperation down the sideline. Feeley overthrew him by about two yards. Hopefully they'll be able to get that timing down.
Feeley[/B] was throwing lasers all over the field today. He was very vocal at the line and probably looked better than he did in the morning (judging by the reports). The thing that stuck out to me was that Feeley was taking the snap, dropping back and letting it rip. Not a lot of wasted time or motion.
Wasn't a perfect day. But he made some good throws. Lost one potentially big play when Derrius Thompson appeared to break his route off and run inside (towards coverage). Feeley threw it outside (where there was open field). Could have been big.
- Sage Rosenfels connected deep to #17 Josh Davis, who beat #42 Alphonso Roundtree cleanly. Bellamy is back once again, trying to make the team. Roundtree is coming back from a gruesome ankle break that scuttled his shot at the #5 CB spot last season (he had that job IMO).
- I noticed Matt Roth a few times today. #98 got thru John St. Clair inside in a 2-on-2 drill (shielded by Whitley) and to the "QB". Roth also disrupted a swing pass from Sage to the RB. Sage was backpeddling, trying to lob a pass over the line to the RB. Roth continuously drove his man backward into the QB, forcing an uncatchable pass. Roth got big ups from his coach for that one.
- Ronald Flemons got the best of Vernon Carey in this drill. Flemons used a slap move to keep Carey going left, then raced inside for the "sack".
- Zach Thomas looks like he's put on some more muscle this year. His arms look especially big.
- Channing Crowder is big and fast. Quite an athlete.
- Ronnie Brown is big and fast. Lamar Gordon is big and fast. Both guys had a nice run or two. One of Gordon's sticks out in my mind. Minor probably gained the most yardage today. With Kay-Jay Harris in the mix, we've got a nice problem at RB.
I'm sure there's more. But I kinda just want to get this thing up. I'll add anything else I can think of. Ended up being a pretty decent sized post. :)
Click Here for some of the photos I took today. I'm in the process of cropping and shrinking them down (they're huge). So bare with me while I put them up. Each photo will have a description below it. :)
Anyway, I'll offer what little I can. And remember, the players are in the equivalent of their bra and underwear. Light hitting. No pads. We've seen a lot of mini-camp stars turn into training camp nobodies. But you shouldn't have to take too much heed with my "report". Anyway...........
The tempo of practice is indeed much different than that of the Wannstedt regime. Things move very quickly now. Everybody hustles back and forth. During 7-on-7's and 11-on-11's, there is a sense of urgency between plays. The coaching staff keeps things moving quickly. When the horn sounds and a period of drills is over, everyone hustles to their next drill. It's all quite refreshing.
The defense is much different than what we're used to seeing. For instance, there were times today where we lined up with three down lineman, with three or four other guys manning the gaps (upright). When the ball is snapped, some of the upright guys come, some drop into coverage. Makes the offense think. Sometimes we'd have eight guys right there in the box......and bring every last one of them (though most times one guy would stay home at the LOS and spy).
Lots of lineman dropping back into coverage. Many times we only rushed three guys, with one lineman dropping into coverage. This isn't to say that Saban will be calling things this way in September. Or even August for that matter. We haven't seen anything yet. And yet we've seen so much.
Offensively, it's nice to see the OL doing a pretty good job holding their own. Usually in mini-camp, our DL is destroying the OL and getting all over the QB. But this afternoon the QBs had time to throw. Granted, it wasn't like there wasn't anyone near them. But the QBs weren't being overly harassed. Certainly not the way we've grown accustomed to. As my brother pointed out, there just seems to be a lot more cohesion on the line. Things look, for lack of a better word, organized. I didn't see the missed assignments, the unaccounted for defender, and things of that nature that have plagued our OL for the last few years.
Granted, there are times where the defense does something new (Taylor lining up at LDT, then stunts right and bolts in untouched). But the OL, from 1st to 3rd string, did a nice job of keeping their QB clean. And the QBs did a nice job of getting rid of the ball and not taking sacks.
The starting and second-string OLs remained the same today.
Carey|James|McKinney|Hadnot|McDougle
McIntosh|Whitley|W.Smith|St. Clair|Cook
Individually...........
- Great seeing Kendall Newson back on the field and making a little noise. Kendall, wearing #14, caught a few nice passes today. Hauled in a really nice catch deep over the middle from Frerotte past two defenders in 11-on-11's. Frerotte hung in there and delivered a great throw in tight space. Kendall is coming back from a torn Achilles tendon suffered last August (he had a great shot last year).
- Feeley just missed on a 45-yard bomb to Chambers in 11-on-11's. Chambers lined up outside against Tebucky Jones, who was left in the dust at the snap. Chambers raced past Jones and #20 Mario Edwards (I believe), gaining seperation down the sideline. Feeley overthrew him by about two yards. Hopefully they'll be able to get that timing down.
Feeley[/B] was throwing lasers all over the field today. He was very vocal at the line and probably looked better than he did in the morning (judging by the reports). The thing that stuck out to me was that Feeley was taking the snap, dropping back and letting it rip. Not a lot of wasted time or motion.
Wasn't a perfect day. But he made some good throws. Lost one potentially big play when Derrius Thompson appeared to break his route off and run inside (towards coverage). Feeley threw it outside (where there was open field). Could have been big.
- Sage Rosenfels connected deep to #17 Josh Davis, who beat #42 Alphonso Roundtree cleanly. Bellamy is back once again, trying to make the team. Roundtree is coming back from a gruesome ankle break that scuttled his shot at the #5 CB spot last season (he had that job IMO).
- I noticed Matt Roth a few times today. #98 got thru John St. Clair inside in a 2-on-2 drill (shielded by Whitley) and to the "QB". Roth also disrupted a swing pass from Sage to the RB. Sage was backpeddling, trying to lob a pass over the line to the RB. Roth continuously drove his man backward into the QB, forcing an uncatchable pass. Roth got big ups from his coach for that one.
- Ronald Flemons got the best of Vernon Carey in this drill. Flemons used a slap move to keep Carey going left, then raced inside for the "sack".
- Zach Thomas looks like he's put on some more muscle this year. His arms look especially big.
- Channing Crowder is big and fast. Quite an athlete.
- Ronnie Brown is big and fast. Lamar Gordon is big and fast. Both guys had a nice run or two. One of Gordon's sticks out in my mind. Minor probably gained the most yardage today. With Kay-Jay Harris in the mix, we've got a nice problem at RB.
I'm sure there's more. But I kinda just want to get this thing up. I'll add anything else I can think of. Ended up being a pretty decent sized post. :)
Click Here for some of the photos I took today. I'm in the process of cropping and shrinking them down (they're huge). So bare with me while I put them up. Each photo will have a description below it. :)
