Daily Short #164, April 11th, 2018: Tuesday Practice Notes
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Here are a few notes gathered from the open portion of practice on Tuesday, which was the 10th practice of spring football:
- There was a bus-load of school kids there. I asked media relations why and no one knew. Many had items that looked to be for autographs, etc. so I'm sure the media department will be milking those images on social media soon enough.
- Other special attendants I noticed today were Jackson Jeffcoat and Cory Redding.
- The biggest news is that DB PJ Locke is still missing practice. In his stead, true freshman Caden Sterns has stepped into the boundary safety position with Brandon Jones remaining to the field side and John Bonney bumping into nickel. Chris Brown comes in for the lightning package. Sterns has unbelievable flexibility through his hips and an ability to flip them and get up the seam in ways I'd never witnessed before. I think he's taking to college coaching like a duck to water because I've seen him in camp and all-star settings and he has never appeared as polished. He's the kind of guy who could stick with some kind of starter's spot if he practices well with the ones. Very good player.
- RB Toneil Carter shed his green no-contact jersey on Tuesday, but DB Josh Thompson added one.
- Speaking of the green jerseys, Chris Nelson is still wearing one, but at least he's hitting the sled full-speed now. The big question with him is if he'll be ready to go on the 21st for the spring game, or if he'll be held out. It would be foolish to push him but nice to know he's progressed during this camp health-wise.
- Todd Orlando talks about DL D'Andre Christmas looking impressive, but I still haven't seen him get a lick of work with the twos. That is always Jamari Chisolm, Ta'Quon Graham and Gerald Wilbon.
- The wide receivers and QBs were practicing "go up and get it" balls today and aerial moves were on display all over. I stick by my claim that this WR group looks, by far, like the best and beastliest I've seen during my time covering Texas and is the best WR room in the Big 12. Lil'Jordan Humphrey got in trouble on one rep for not even attempting to go up and get an overthrow from Buechele while Jerrod Heard had an epic, mid-air one-handed grab. Buechele had a beautiful rep to Collin Johnson and I can't say it enough -- those guys were going up to get it. The staff wants them to play above the rim next season. If the play-calling sticks to that sort of mentality, we'll see an entirely different offense.
- The other main point of emphasis we saw on Tuesday with the WRs technique-wise was using their hands with more force and intention to counter man defenders in press-technique.
- My favorite part of OL position drills was an emphasis of work on identifying and picking up stunts. It's like Herb Hand is going down my personal s--- list of 2017 OL woes and touching on them one by one through spring.
- We weren't there for long, but here are the outcomes of reps I saw in more of the contact drills:
RB vs. LB 1v1 "eye opener" angle drill
LB Dele Adeoye takes a bad angle and misses a walk on RB.
(he did the rep again and murdered him)
Malcolm Roach dominates Toneil Carter
RB Daniel Young and Adeoye basically stalemate with Adeoye giving up ground on contact, but ultimately bringing Young down.
LB Jeffrey McCulloch murders a walk-on RB and throws him like a rag doll.
Tandem OL vs. DL + LB "double-and-climb" drills
DL Jamari Chisolm splits OLs Derek Kerstetter (but mostly Elijah Rodriguez) to win the rep for the D.
Kerstetter and Rodriguez execute the drill correctly to erase DL Gerald Wilbon and Adeoye.
OLs Denzel Okafor and Rodriguez win the rep versus Chisolm and LB Demarco Boyd.
OT Samuel Cosmi had DE Breckyn Hager dead-to-rights with a quick initial step, but when his inside help left to pick up the stunting LB, Hager pivoted and used Cosmi's forward momentum against him and put him on the ground. (I can't get over how much Cosmi looks like a young Connor Williams from a strictly visual standpoint as a random aside).
Hager rips completely through Patrick Vahe's outside-half responsibility to dominate the rep.
presented by the Dental Offices of Wendy Swantkowski, DDS
The Absolute BEST in family and cosmetic dentistry for the Houston-Memorial Area
Now Accepting New Patients --- 281-293-9140
Support the Short by supporting our sponsor - Give Wendy a call today!
Here are a few notes gathered from the open portion of practice on Tuesday, which was the 10th practice of spring football:
- There was a bus-load of school kids there. I asked media relations why and no one knew. Many had items that looked to be for autographs, etc. so I'm sure the media department will be milking those images on social media soon enough.
- Other special attendants I noticed today were Jackson Jeffcoat and Cory Redding.
- The biggest news is that DB PJ Locke is still missing practice. In his stead, true freshman Caden Sterns has stepped into the boundary safety position with Brandon Jones remaining to the field side and John Bonney bumping into nickel. Chris Brown comes in for the lightning package. Sterns has unbelievable flexibility through his hips and an ability to flip them and get up the seam in ways I'd never witnessed before. I think he's taking to college coaching like a duck to water because I've seen him in camp and all-star settings and he has never appeared as polished. He's the kind of guy who could stick with some kind of starter's spot if he practices well with the ones. Very good player.
- RB Toneil Carter shed his green no-contact jersey on Tuesday, but DB Josh Thompson added one.
- Speaking of the green jerseys, Chris Nelson is still wearing one, but at least he's hitting the sled full-speed now. The big question with him is if he'll be ready to go on the 21st for the spring game, or if he'll be held out. It would be foolish to push him but nice to know he's progressed during this camp health-wise.
- Todd Orlando talks about DL D'Andre Christmas looking impressive, but I still haven't seen him get a lick of work with the twos. That is always Jamari Chisolm, Ta'Quon Graham and Gerald Wilbon.
- The wide receivers and QBs were practicing "go up and get it" balls today and aerial moves were on display all over. I stick by my claim that this WR group looks, by far, like the best and beastliest I've seen during my time covering Texas and is the best WR room in the Big 12. Lil'Jordan Humphrey got in trouble on one rep for not even attempting to go up and get an overthrow from Buechele while Jerrod Heard had an epic, mid-air one-handed grab. Buechele had a beautiful rep to Collin Johnson and I can't say it enough -- those guys were going up to get it. The staff wants them to play above the rim next season. If the play-calling sticks to that sort of mentality, we'll see an entirely different offense.
- The other main point of emphasis we saw on Tuesday with the WRs technique-wise was using their hands with more force and intention to counter man defenders in press-technique.
- My favorite part of OL position drills was an emphasis of work on identifying and picking up stunts. It's like Herb Hand is going down my personal s--- list of 2017 OL woes and touching on them one by one through spring.
- We weren't there for long, but here are the outcomes of reps I saw in more of the contact drills:
RB vs. LB 1v1 "eye opener" angle drill
LB Dele Adeoye takes a bad angle and misses a walk on RB.
(he did the rep again and murdered him)
Malcolm Roach dominates Toneil Carter
RB Daniel Young and Adeoye basically stalemate with Adeoye giving up ground on contact, but ultimately bringing Young down.
LB Jeffrey McCulloch murders a walk-on RB and throws him like a rag doll.
Tandem OL vs. DL + LB "double-and-climb" drills
DL Jamari Chisolm splits OLs Derek Kerstetter (but mostly Elijah Rodriguez) to win the rep for the D.
Kerstetter and Rodriguez execute the drill correctly to erase DL Gerald Wilbon and Adeoye.
OLs Denzel Okafor and Rodriguez win the rep versus Chisolm and LB Demarco Boyd.
OT Samuel Cosmi had DE Breckyn Hager dead-to-rights with a quick initial step, but when his inside help left to pick up the stunting LB, Hager pivoted and used Cosmi's forward momentum against him and put him on the ground. (I can't get over how much Cosmi looks like a young Connor Williams from a strictly visual standpoint as a random aside).
Hager rips completely through Patrick Vahe's outside-half responsibility to dominate the rep.
