We mentioned in the War Room last week and in Ep. XI of the OB podcast on Tuesday that DT Paul Boyette would be a player to monitor coming into this week as he'd reportedly missed practice last Thursday and was at least limited on Saturday. One person texted OB after Tuesday practice to say that he's still working his way back to full speed. It doesn't sound major, but just something to keep an eye on. We're seven practices into spring ball and Boyette, likely the most important key cog in the 2015 run-defense, has now missed almost half of them.
We've seen that this staff (correctly and responsibly from a football-standpoint) has treated banged-up players with kid gloves in the spring - especially among such thin and important positions as offensive line and defensive line. Texas fans certainly hope that any issues with Boyette don't turn into lingering ones through spring like those in the spring of 2015 which hindered Hassan Ridgeway and Desmond Jackson at times in-season.
Chris Nelson has received the reps with the ones in the absence of Boyette during this time which is a decent silver lining as Nelson projects as a 37-42%-snap-percentage contributor in 2016 even with a healthy Boyette.
. . .
A few more notes picked up about practice on Tuesday:
- MVP of practice was apparently WR Ryan Newsome who had a few great catches and runs. It's important that Newsome has a few big practices this spring and it sounds like he did on Tuesday. It's also notable because one person said there were a "ton" of dropped balls on a rainy day Tuesday, so it made Newsome's day stand out even more.
- We reported on Saturday that Tristan Nickelson was 'almost' back to practice but still a bit limited. A source told us that he is now back to full-speed as of Tuesday. Connor Williams continues to play through the toe injury we've reported on, so the OL again has all hands on deck.
- One source said, by the looks of his growth, he would not be surprised to see Charles Omenihu as the starting SDE for Notre Dame over Bryce Cottrell.
- Although we've heard FOX DE Naashon Hughes could be phased out some in 2016, he still dominates the reps with the ones as Derick Roberson remains unavailable.
- One person said that S Deshon Elliott is getting more run with the first group in place of Dylan Haines.
- PJ Locke has seemingly officially taken John Bonney's job at the nickel, Locke may be drawing some of the most rave reviews of any player through the course of this spring.
- Kris Boyd still continues to get zero work with the ones, though, which is tough as he's a guy you'd love to get on the field somehow.
- It was revealed via social media that QB Jerrod Heard may have some sort of issue with his shoulder due to the fact that OL Zach Shackelford posted a snapchat showing him in a sling:
I found this odd as a very good source told me that reps were split pretty evenly between Heard, Swoopes and Buechele at practice without even mentioning any injury. We're digging for further details on this regarding Heard, and should have them soon. What I would say in the meantime is that we've seen the Texas staff put players in slings, boots and other similar medical devices for very minor issues, sometimes even between practices the players are allowed to participate in. We'll have an update soon, but I'm not initially worried about a major injury for Heard based on the circumstances.
- A little sunshine along the offensive line involves OT Ronnie Major, who looked horrible at practices open to the media despite terrific size and length. One source texted, he's working hard and improving ... "a lot."
- Freshman LB Demarco Boyd is getting more and more run with the twos per numerous sources while Tim Cole continues to see the majority of reps alongside Malik Jefferson with the first group. It stands to reason that a shake-up will likely occur at some point moving Edwin Freeman, Anthony Wheeler or Breckyn Hager into the first group opposite Jefferson as the second inside linebacker as Cole has not been a starting-caliber player thus far in his Texas career.
We've seen that this staff (correctly and responsibly from a football-standpoint) has treated banged-up players with kid gloves in the spring - especially among such thin and important positions as offensive line and defensive line. Texas fans certainly hope that any issues with Boyette don't turn into lingering ones through spring like those in the spring of 2015 which hindered Hassan Ridgeway and Desmond Jackson at times in-season.
Chris Nelson has received the reps with the ones in the absence of Boyette during this time which is a decent silver lining as Nelson projects as a 37-42%-snap-percentage contributor in 2016 even with a healthy Boyette.
. . .
A few more notes picked up about practice on Tuesday:
- MVP of practice was apparently WR Ryan Newsome who had a few great catches and runs. It's important that Newsome has a few big practices this spring and it sounds like he did on Tuesday. It's also notable because one person said there were a "ton" of dropped balls on a rainy day Tuesday, so it made Newsome's day stand out even more.
- We reported on Saturday that Tristan Nickelson was 'almost' back to practice but still a bit limited. A source told us that he is now back to full-speed as of Tuesday. Connor Williams continues to play through the toe injury we've reported on, so the OL again has all hands on deck.
- One source said, by the looks of his growth, he would not be surprised to see Charles Omenihu as the starting SDE for Notre Dame over Bryce Cottrell.
- Although we've heard FOX DE Naashon Hughes could be phased out some in 2016, he still dominates the reps with the ones as Derick Roberson remains unavailable.
- One person said that S Deshon Elliott is getting more run with the first group in place of Dylan Haines.
- PJ Locke has seemingly officially taken John Bonney's job at the nickel, Locke may be drawing some of the most rave reviews of any player through the course of this spring.
- Kris Boyd still continues to get zero work with the ones, though, which is tough as he's a guy you'd love to get on the field somehow.
- It was revealed via social media that QB Jerrod Heard may have some sort of issue with his shoulder due to the fact that OL Zach Shackelford posted a snapchat showing him in a sling:
I found this odd as a very good source told me that reps were split pretty evenly between Heard, Swoopes and Buechele at practice without even mentioning any injury. We're digging for further details on this regarding Heard, and should have them soon. What I would say in the meantime is that we've seen the Texas staff put players in slings, boots and other similar medical devices for very minor issues, sometimes even between practices the players are allowed to participate in. We'll have an update soon, but I'm not initially worried about a major injury for Heard based on the circumstances.
- A little sunshine along the offensive line involves OT Ronnie Major, who looked horrible at practices open to the media despite terrific size and length. One source texted, he's working hard and improving ... "a lot."
- Freshman LB Demarco Boyd is getting more and more run with the twos per numerous sources while Tim Cole continues to see the majority of reps alongside Malik Jefferson with the first group. It stands to reason that a shake-up will likely occur at some point moving Edwin Freeman, Anthony Wheeler or Breckyn Hager into the first group opposite Jefferson as the second inside linebacker as Cole has not been a starting-caliber player thus far in his Texas career.
