Subject: My observations from Sunday's open practice
The Longhorns turned in a physical practice on Saturday in front of a decent-sized crowd. Some notes I took while watching from the sideline ...
1. These coaches are coaching like their lives depend on the team being good this year. Damn near every coach on the team, including Charlie Strong, was very animated at one point or another and they're really pushing the guys harder than I can remember seeing at any open practices I've watched over the years.
2. Some of the best things I heard ...
"Run through him. You're 240 pounds. Do it again!" - Tommie Robinson
"F&*k his ass up! What was that?!? You have pads on!" - Brian Jean-Mary to a LB who didn't finish a contact drill the way he wanted
"I'm gonna run your ass after practice!" - Vance Bedford
"Good job 14. That's how you play quarterback! Those other guys suck!" - Bedford to Kai Locksley after a Locksley scramble
3. Tyrone Swoopes once again won the day among the QBs. Jerrod Heard struggled with his accuracy, although he did connect with Ty Templin for a long TD (against a back-up DB).
4. Not sure what to make of the punting game. Both Michael Dickson and Mitchell Becker can boom them but they're both very inconsistent. Dickson had at least one bad shank on the day. Becker was a little better overall.
5. Holton Hill was suited up but I didn't see him getting any work.
6. Tim Cole wasn't even suited up.
7. Dalton Santos was getting some work with the third-team defense. They're obviously bringing him along slowly but he was at least out there working.
8. DeAndre McNeal actually got a look as a punt returner ... all 240 pounds of him.
9. Speaking of McNeal, he's been very impressive. He won his battle in the bull in the ring drill (I believe it was against DeShon Elliott, who came up hobbled), and McNeal had a nice catch and run in scrimmage action.
10. Charles Omenihu got his butt chewed a bit by the coaches for his effort in 1-on-1 blocking drills (also against McNeal). The next time around, Omenihu was much better and it was a push. The coaches are staying on Omenihu quite a bit.
11. No player felt the wrath of the coaches more than Cecil Cherry. He was getting chewed out on damn near every play, either for pre-snap errors or for mistakes during the actual play.
12. Armanti Foreman appeared to tweak something (knee/ankle maybe?) but he returned to action later in the day so he seems to be fine.
13. Shwan Watson was working with Kai Locksley on a few mechanical things, including keeping the ball held high while focusing on footwork drills. Locksley will miss his mark by a good margin every once in a while, but he's been pretty good overall. He delivered two really good throws on back-to-back plays in scrimmage work.
14. Tyrone Swoopes' arm strength is so much better than every other QB on campus. The ball just jumps off Swoopes' hand when he throws it. The other guys aren't even in his league if we're talking pure arm strength.
15. Too many drops by the WRs, including drops by Dorian Leonard on back-to-back plays. Damn near every WR on the roster fought the ball some today.
16. Peter Jinkens with a nice lick on Kirk Johnson in 1-on-1 tackling drills to force a fumble.
17. Tommie Robinson was really getting on his big backs in 1-on-1 goal line drills. Both Chris Warren and D'Onta Foreman tried to go around the LB rather than go through him, which had Robinson fired up. He made them line right back up and do it again.
18. Couldn't see much in the bull in the ring drill because the players were obstructing my view, but based on the reactions of the team, the defense won most of the battles.
19. Really like what I see from Patrick Vahe, who did well in 1-on-1 blocking drills. He really does a good job of holding his ground.
20. Ryan Newsome has some wheels. He blew by Dylan Haines in 1-on-1s and just missed making a diving catch for a long TD.
21. Marcus Johnson dropped one ball that he probably should have caught in some traffic, but he bounced back to make a couple nice grabs, including a leaping catch over Adrian Colbert.
22. Malik Jefferson continues to run with the 1s. So does John Burt. Jefferson had what would have been a sack early in scrimmage work. Burt had a pretty quiet day compared to Friday.
