2 day camp report, 7/30-31

Hey Guys. I went to both practices this weekend, and I am going tomorrow to see the first padded practice. Here are my observations of the first two practices.

1. By luck, I happened to sit right where all of the 7 on 7 and 11 on 11 took place for both days. I tended to focus on the skill positions, and all of our new receivers.

2. Both of our rookie tight ends had good practices yesterday. Hemmingway looks smooth and is a huge man, as is Higbee. Higbee has gotten work with the 1s, and hasn’t looked out of place. His body looks more like a giant wide receiver than a tight end, but he has shown some nice hands so far.

3. Brian Quick ran with the 1s yesterday because Britt had a day off. I swear, if they ever decided to just throw BQ about 7-9 balls a game, he would be a star. In individual drills and 1-on-1s he looked great, but in the 7 on 7s and full scrimmages they never looked his way. The one ball they did throw Quick got huge separation against Sensabaugh for what would have been a touchdown but Keenum just overthrew him.

4. I have a new appreciation for Trumaine Johnson after watching him in person. He really stands out as one of the best players on the field when he is out there. He can lock onto any wide receiver and either muscle them or run with them, and shut them down. I hope they can find a way to sign him long term.

5. Watching Goff, I think he is going to be very good. I think he is someone who is going to continue to get better and better, which means people need to not make sweeping judgments about the kid early on. I saw significant improvement from Saturday to Sunday in just his demeanor and his conviction of his throws. On Saturday, he was plagued by really horrible center play, because the snap kept getting rolled back to him. He was also twitchy in the pocket, and probably a little nervous. The thing is, the defensive line can collapse the pocket anytime they want to, because there are no pads. Yesterday, with a little cleaner pocket, he threw mostly strikes to receivers on short range targets.

6. It sounds crazy to be impressed by such simple goals, but our defense is absolutely swarming and extremely fast. They are diagnosing the plays and beating the offensive players to the punch. And that is with guys like Donald and Quinn going half speed.

7. UCI is a great place to watch practice. You are very close to the field and you can hear and see everything. Its really a cool experience to be so close to the players.

8. When there are 90 players running around the field, it is hard to stand out. But Gurley stands out. He is the real deal.

9. Mannion is an interesting player. During the footwork drills, he looks like a bull in a china shop lumbering through the cones. But he is bigger than the other QBs and he throws the ball noticeably harder than the other guys. He is also more inclined to throw the ball down the field as opposed to dumping the ball off to the backs and tight ends. Maybe he feels like he needs to make an impression, but he at least is trying to throw to the wide receivers.

10. Marquez North and D’haquille Williams are both huge bodied wide receivers. Williams looks to be the better prospect, but both look good in drills. Spruce has not stood out much in either drills or against the defense to this point.

I will post after tomorrow’s practice – it should be a good one being the first padded practice of the year.

Isiah 58

• This topic was modified 8 years, 4 months ago by Isiah58.
• This topic was modified 8 years, 4 months ago by zn.