BLITZKRIEG
~LACUNA LEGIONS~
This may not be the conventional way of posting a mini-camp report, but I take notes as I go, and that's the way I choose to get my info....
Small crowd at 3:30, but did fill up quite a bit as the practice rolled along....
DB / LB / DL Drills
-----------------
For the most part, the DB's look good, remember it's early. One thing I did take quick notice of was that Capers was working solely with the S's, and Saban with the CB's. Both were working hard on tech / and positioning. These are rather boring drills, but you could tell that Caper and Saban are going to focus very hard on strengthening the secondary. Nobody really stands out in these drills.....
OLB C. Crowder was the first player on the field that really stood out. He looks bigger, and in great shape. Just looking at him you could tell he's ready to go. There are also a nice handful of guys battling as LB's that I've never really heard. They are as follows....
Matt Sinclair / Travis Harris / Mike Labingo / Keith Newman / Sam McGrew. None of these guys really stood out all that much, but you never know with these kinds of players. One could end up making the roster for all we know....
The DL was off on their own, doing some kind of positiong ing drills, but for the most part these guys just stood around and didn't work hard. I was kind of disappointed with the lack of energy the DL players were showing today, they looked lazy / tired / and just didn't give much effort in my opinion during the drills. I'm not sure if the coaches over there were doing their jobs or not, that's how little action there was when it came to the DL drills....
The DB drills, on the other hand, were full of action. They looked prepared, and seemed very agressive in their mood right from the get go. Capers / Saban got these guys hungry during the first 30-40 minutes, and it showed when they were practicing the run-turn-pick drills. There was some high energy, and they all seemed much more focused than the DL did....
==============================
Offensive Passing Drill I : "Opposite Side Of Practice Field"
-------------------------------
This first drill was short, and only consisted of pass - catch plays. NO PRESSURE / COVERAGE.
To keep this short, all of the QB's looked good. These are simple drills during this stage of the mini, so there really isn't much to this. I will say that Culpepper has some serious zip on his short passes, and harrington even showed a nice touch on a long ball right at the whistle to end the drill. No big deal really, but it was a nice long pass....
There were also some drops during these drills. It was sprinkling at the time, but I did see quite a few dropped balls over there....
- OT V. Carey Looks Huge!!!!!! Don't know where that came from, I just noticed him and he stood out. He's BIGGER....
Offensive Passing Drill II
------------------------
This is where I wrote a QB play-by-play segment, and here's where the action really starts. There is coverage / DL pressure during these drills, and it's much more of a game type situation....
JH - 1 for 2 to start. His first throw was nice, but his second went incomp. Warming up....
DC - He started off with a nice short comp over the middle, and then threw 2 incompletions outside where the timing was off and the pass had too much on it....
JH - Long TD on a broken coverage. Nice ball though, and good recognition getting the open man the ball.
JH - Long incomp off the WR fingertips. This could have been a TD had it had alittle more air under it, the CB just poked it off the WR's hands while going up for the pass....
JH - Short complete over the middle. Harrington's short passes are tight and accurate. He did well throwing the short passes here...
JH - Long incomp to Chambers. He tried to make something happen that wasn't there, and the coverage was too tight.
DC - One thing I noticed about Bulpepper was his "hobble dropbacks". He has some hesitation as well when he's scouring the field in mid-pass...
Harrington looks better than I expected. {Another write in} - Sometimes I just write things like this when I have a thought, and Harrington sparked my ineterest today....
DC - Incomp, high and outside. He throws this pass so fast, it just needs timing..
DC - Handoff to S. Morris, and there was some nice movement by the OL on this play....
C. Lemon - Lemon looked solid during the first, no coverage drills, and he continued to look solid throughout the day. On this play, it was a short completion outside. Good throw...
CL - Reverse to Chambers, and he takes it a looooooong way. Very good movement up front all around. It was a very well designed play, and caught the defense offguard....
CL - Bootleg right, turns into scramble for a few yards. Lemon is fast, and agile in his movement outside the pocket. You can tell he's a talented athlete...
Saban = Madman
JH - Bootleg left, pass incomplete. But it looked good.
JH - Sack, but after evading, throws a nice completion outside to save the play. Not bad, but had this been a real game situation he would have been sacked....
JH - Outside pitch to Morris for a big gain. I can't get over the way Morris gets after it. He's so underrated it's not even funny....
Ronnie Brown looks better than ever. He's quicker, bigger, and stronger to the hole from the way he played today. He looks great in my opinion....
QB C. Lemon looked sharp during his drills....
MORE DRILLS
----------------
DC - Sharp outside pass to McMike.
DC - A laser to the short middle of the field complete. Threaded the needle on this one, and it had serious zip on it...
DC - Same as above. He made the same throw on consecutive plays. There WR's better be careful catching these rockets. He throws it harder than anyone I've ever seen...
CL - 2 completions in a row, one was a very nice high grab by WR D. Hagan. Then he threw an incompletion on his next pass...
JH - More short completions. His short passes are solid...
----------------------------------------------
Offensive Pass Drill III : "At The 15"
===========================
DC - He tried to get it to Chambers in the back of the endzone, but it went incomp.
JH - Ugly underthrow, incomp. His worst throw of the day by far....
DC - Shotgun, outside flare pass to Minor, goes for TD. Good timing....
JH - Short cross, 10yrds, goes for TD. Very nice throw here, got it in-between two defenders...
DC - Throw away. Tight coverage all around, there was nothing open....
CL - Short, safe completion over the middle. 5 yards. Gibson on the catch...
DC - Two step drop, lob pass to corner endzone. Chambers there, but coverage too tight, incomp. It looked good though....
CL - Back of endzone....nobody home. Major zip on that one. Lemon has an arm, I'm happy with him at #3 right now...
Even M. Vick threw a pass here, and it was a nice one. WR D. Hagan made another very nice high grab here. I like this kid, he made a good impression today in my opinion....
==========================================
Offensive Passing Drill IV : "45 Yard Line"
---------------------------------------
DC - A 15 yard laser. No coverage, complete....
DC - Good pressure, hurry throw, tipped-INT. DL was all over Culpepper here...
DC - Handoff gets stuffed. The DL was ready for that run...
DC - Screen right to Morris. Very solid gain outside, and very good blocking all around. Morris amazes me...
JH - Short cross, only about 6-7 yard pass, nice zip, ends up going for a TD....
JH - Good pass rush, scramble, throws on the run complete for about 10 yards. Nice adjustment, and good throw on the run....
JH - Pitch to Minor, not much there. The run D is focused...
JH - Sack. Good pressure blew this play up....
CL - Nice short over the middle pass. He's got a laser of his own in my opinion.
CL - Two step short pass to outside, incomp. Needs more accuracy on that one...
CL - Screen, very nice gain for about 10 yards. These guys ran a few very nice screens today. Very nice...
FINAL 10 MINUTES!!! - "45 Yard Line"
=================================
DC - Hand off to Brown. 4-5 yards tops...
DC - Play action bomb. Missle launch. Just out of reach....
DC - Over the middle laser - Too hard to handle - Tipped - INT.....
JH - TE middle, easy TD. Harrington made a great touch pass here, and showed his recognition skills by finding the wide open TE. This could have been a clown coverage again, but it looked like a great throw and catch....
JH - Handoff to Morris. 40 yard TD. Have I said how great Morris looked today yet???....I think we're safe with him behind Brown. He looks great, better than I've ever seen him to be honest with you. I actually had to do a double take when I saw his jersey.....I thought it was Brown!!....
JH - Shotgun, another nice completion. 10-15 yards, solid throw and catch...
CL - Outside scramble, good throw and catch....
CL - Pitch to Minor, slow developing, no real gain on the play. The DL simply ate it up...
CL - Play action, nobody open, runs for a couple of yards....
After that, with only a few minutes left, they moved down to the 20, but it was over behind the rest area, and it's impossible to see what's going on when they practice over in that area. I packed it in after that.....
Culpepper / Harrington / Lemon all looked good...
The mere size of Culpepper itself is impressive, and his arm strength is like nothing I've witnessed at a Phinz camp before. He throws lasers, and the way he looked today was a great sign. He showed no effects of having surgery in my opinion....
He has a small hobble when he drops back, but all in all he looks great. I'm not making any predictions, but if he continues to practice, and make progress as he goes along, he should be able to start on opening day in my opinion...
It was a very productive late session in my opinion. The guys looked hungry and focused. I left feeling very satisfied all around....
PLAYER OF THE DAY AWARD - RB Sammy Morris
PHINZ RULE!!!!!
Small crowd at 3:30, but did fill up quite a bit as the practice rolled along....
DB / LB / DL Drills
-----------------
For the most part, the DB's look good, remember it's early. One thing I did take quick notice of was that Capers was working solely with the S's, and Saban with the CB's. Both were working hard on tech / and positioning. These are rather boring drills, but you could tell that Caper and Saban are going to focus very hard on strengthening the secondary. Nobody really stands out in these drills.....
OLB C. Crowder was the first player on the field that really stood out. He looks bigger, and in great shape. Just looking at him you could tell he's ready to go. There are also a nice handful of guys battling as LB's that I've never really heard. They are as follows....
Matt Sinclair / Travis Harris / Mike Labingo / Keith Newman / Sam McGrew. None of these guys really stood out all that much, but you never know with these kinds of players. One could end up making the roster for all we know....
The DL was off on their own, doing some kind of positiong ing drills, but for the most part these guys just stood around and didn't work hard. I was kind of disappointed with the lack of energy the DL players were showing today, they looked lazy / tired / and just didn't give much effort in my opinion during the drills. I'm not sure if the coaches over there were doing their jobs or not, that's how little action there was when it came to the DL drills....
The DB drills, on the other hand, were full of action. They looked prepared, and seemed very agressive in their mood right from the get go. Capers / Saban got these guys hungry during the first 30-40 minutes, and it showed when they were practicing the run-turn-pick drills. There was some high energy, and they all seemed much more focused than the DL did....
==============================
Offensive Passing Drill I : "Opposite Side Of Practice Field"
-------------------------------
This first drill was short, and only consisted of pass - catch plays. NO PRESSURE / COVERAGE.
To keep this short, all of the QB's looked good. These are simple drills during this stage of the mini, so there really isn't much to this. I will say that Culpepper has some serious zip on his short passes, and harrington even showed a nice touch on a long ball right at the whistle to end the drill. No big deal really, but it was a nice long pass....
There were also some drops during these drills. It was sprinkling at the time, but I did see quite a few dropped balls over there....
- OT V. Carey Looks Huge!!!!!! Don't know where that came from, I just noticed him and he stood out. He's BIGGER....
Offensive Passing Drill II
------------------------
This is where I wrote a QB play-by-play segment, and here's where the action really starts. There is coverage / DL pressure during these drills, and it's much more of a game type situation....
JH - 1 for 2 to start. His first throw was nice, but his second went incomp. Warming up....
DC - He started off with a nice short comp over the middle, and then threw 2 incompletions outside where the timing was off and the pass had too much on it....
JH - Long TD on a broken coverage. Nice ball though, and good recognition getting the open man the ball.
JH - Long incomp off the WR fingertips. This could have been a TD had it had alittle more air under it, the CB just poked it off the WR's hands while going up for the pass....
JH - Short complete over the middle. Harrington's short passes are tight and accurate. He did well throwing the short passes here...
JH - Long incomp to Chambers. He tried to make something happen that wasn't there, and the coverage was too tight.
DC - One thing I noticed about Bulpepper was his "hobble dropbacks". He has some hesitation as well when he's scouring the field in mid-pass...
Harrington looks better than I expected. {Another write in} - Sometimes I just write things like this when I have a thought, and Harrington sparked my ineterest today....
DC - Incomp, high and outside. He throws this pass so fast, it just needs timing..
DC - Handoff to S. Morris, and there was some nice movement by the OL on this play....
C. Lemon - Lemon looked solid during the first, no coverage drills, and he continued to look solid throughout the day. On this play, it was a short completion outside. Good throw...
CL - Reverse to Chambers, and he takes it a looooooong way. Very good movement up front all around. It was a very well designed play, and caught the defense offguard....
CL - Bootleg right, turns into scramble for a few yards. Lemon is fast, and agile in his movement outside the pocket. You can tell he's a talented athlete...
Saban = Madman
JH - Bootleg left, pass incomplete. But it looked good.
JH - Sack, but after evading, throws a nice completion outside to save the play. Not bad, but had this been a real game situation he would have been sacked....
JH - Outside pitch to Morris for a big gain. I can't get over the way Morris gets after it. He's so underrated it's not even funny....
Ronnie Brown looks better than ever. He's quicker, bigger, and stronger to the hole from the way he played today. He looks great in my opinion....
QB C. Lemon looked sharp during his drills....
MORE DRILLS
----------------
DC - Sharp outside pass to McMike.
DC - A laser to the short middle of the field complete. Threaded the needle on this one, and it had serious zip on it...
DC - Same as above. He made the same throw on consecutive plays. There WR's better be careful catching these rockets. He throws it harder than anyone I've ever seen...
CL - 2 completions in a row, one was a very nice high grab by WR D. Hagan. Then he threw an incompletion on his next pass...
JH - More short completions. His short passes are solid...
----------------------------------------------
Offensive Pass Drill III : "At The 15"
===========================
DC - He tried to get it to Chambers in the back of the endzone, but it went incomp.
JH - Ugly underthrow, incomp. His worst throw of the day by far....
DC - Shotgun, outside flare pass to Minor, goes for TD. Good timing....
JH - Short cross, 10yrds, goes for TD. Very nice throw here, got it in-between two defenders...
DC - Throw away. Tight coverage all around, there was nothing open....
CL - Short, safe completion over the middle. 5 yards. Gibson on the catch...
DC - Two step drop, lob pass to corner endzone. Chambers there, but coverage too tight, incomp. It looked good though....
CL - Back of endzone....nobody home. Major zip on that one. Lemon has an arm, I'm happy with him at #3 right now...
Even M. Vick threw a pass here, and it was a nice one. WR D. Hagan made another very nice high grab here. I like this kid, he made a good impression today in my opinion....
==========================================
Offensive Passing Drill IV : "45 Yard Line"
---------------------------------------
DC - A 15 yard laser. No coverage, complete....
DC - Good pressure, hurry throw, tipped-INT. DL was all over Culpepper here...
DC - Handoff gets stuffed. The DL was ready for that run...
DC - Screen right to Morris. Very solid gain outside, and very good blocking all around. Morris amazes me...
JH - Short cross, only about 6-7 yard pass, nice zip, ends up going for a TD....
JH - Good pass rush, scramble, throws on the run complete for about 10 yards. Nice adjustment, and good throw on the run....
JH - Pitch to Minor, not much there. The run D is focused...
JH - Sack. Good pressure blew this play up....
CL - Nice short over the middle pass. He's got a laser of his own in my opinion.
CL - Two step short pass to outside, incomp. Needs more accuracy on that one...
CL - Screen, very nice gain for about 10 yards. These guys ran a few very nice screens today. Very nice...
FINAL 10 MINUTES!!! - "45 Yard Line"
=================================
DC - Hand off to Brown. 4-5 yards tops...
DC - Play action bomb. Missle launch. Just out of reach....
DC - Over the middle laser - Too hard to handle - Tipped - INT.....
JH - TE middle, easy TD. Harrington made a great touch pass here, and showed his recognition skills by finding the wide open TE. This could have been a clown coverage again, but it looked like a great throw and catch....
JH - Handoff to Morris. 40 yard TD. Have I said how great Morris looked today yet???....I think we're safe with him behind Brown. He looks great, better than I've ever seen him to be honest with you. I actually had to do a double take when I saw his jersey.....I thought it was Brown!!....
JH - Shotgun, another nice completion. 10-15 yards, solid throw and catch...
CL - Outside scramble, good throw and catch....
CL - Pitch to Minor, slow developing, no real gain on the play. The DL simply ate it up...
CL - Play action, nobody open, runs for a couple of yards....
After that, with only a few minutes left, they moved down to the 20, but it was over behind the rest area, and it's impossible to see what's going on when they practice over in that area. I packed it in after that.....
Culpepper / Harrington / Lemon all looked good...
The mere size of Culpepper itself is impressive, and his arm strength is like nothing I've witnessed at a Phinz camp before. He throws lasers, and the way he looked today was a great sign. He showed no effects of having surgery in my opinion....
He has a small hobble when he drops back, but all in all he looks great. I'm not making any predictions, but if he continues to practice, and make progress as he goes along, he should be able to start on opening day in my opinion...
It was a very productive late session in my opinion. The guys looked hungry and focused. I left feeling very satisfied all around....
PLAYER OF THE DAY AWARD - RB Sammy Morris
PHINZ RULE!!!!!