Everyone definitely seemed happy to be back out on the field and when time began to officially begin practice, the team together for coach Herman to address them before the first practice back.
Although Herman's talk to the team is something that happens before the start of each practice, he was rather animated yesterday and it went on for a while. We were probably 25 yards away on a windy day so some of what he was saying I could;t make out but basically he was telling the team that the tone and pace for the team in 2016 will be set by how they work today. He emphatically listed off a ton of things it was not ok to accepts from themselves and others around them.
Herman has a real knack for demanding attention and getting it from the players, You'd be hard pressed to find a player not strictly paying attention to him when he is talking, and heaven help them if he were to see someone not paying attention.
On to a few more actual notes.
My goal was to watch the specialist for a while and start working on receivers some. Unfortunately we didn't get any live reps other than specialists, so I'll start with that.
Like we talked about some in the other thread with @BigHorse85 there is a lot of changeover and the staff is letting the players work through and battle some. Like we talked about before, the punter situation looks like it is coming down to a battle between Blake Boyles and Kyle Postman. I'm going to not judge everything by one practice but yesterday was a struggle both early on which may can be explained away with how windy it was. Postman struggled a bit with consistency, at one point having Herman ask him openly if he wanted the job promptly following by Herman urging him to step up and take it then.
For the deep snapper position, big shoes to fill with the departure of 2 back to back long term snappers who were very good at what they did. There were a few players working at snapping Tuesday, including Zach Faires (took most 1st team snaps) who is the biggest of the bunch and seemed to have the most snap on getting the ball back to the punter. Also getting reps were John Letter, Payton Pardee and a little Byron Simpson. Luckily this is spring and not fall or there would be a lot more concern about this unit's level at the moment. Plenty of time for development though.
The way it appears at the moment is Faires and Postma as the starters with Letter and Boyles battling for the spot as well. The kickers were out kicking some before practice began but they didn't do anything during the open period we had so we'll watch again some more today. It still seems like Ty Cummings job with Joel Scarborough out there as well.
Again, we did;t see a whole lot of actual action but they did run through some plays against a scout defense at half speed and I got the depth chart:
1st team had Greg Ward and Kaliq Kokuma in the backfield, protected up front (L-R) by Marcu Oliver, Ryan Deshotel, Will Noble, Kameron Elope and Na'Ty Rodgers. Ra'Shaad Samples and Chance Allen were split out right with Steven Dunbar on the other side and Tyler McClosky on Rodgers right hip.
When the first team came back out, a couple of wrinkles they included was taking McClosky off and adding Ra'Shaad Samples as well as lining up some with McClosky still on the right hip of Rodgers but with Ward flanked on his left and right by Kokuma and Samples respectively. In this formation, Dunbar and Chance Allen were together on the left side.
2nd team up was led by Postman who was joined in the back field by Kevrin Justice and protected up front by (again L-R) Josh Jones, Mason Denley, Colton Freeman, Mac Long and Jarrid Williams.
John Leday and Linell Bonner were split out right with Isaiah Johnson on the right.
I'll be back out this afternoon and will work on a defensive position group and watch the depth chart on that side as well.
Although Herman's talk to the team is something that happens before the start of each practice, he was rather animated yesterday and it went on for a while. We were probably 25 yards away on a windy day so some of what he was saying I could;t make out but basically he was telling the team that the tone and pace for the team in 2016 will be set by how they work today. He emphatically listed off a ton of things it was not ok to accepts from themselves and others around them.
Herman has a real knack for demanding attention and getting it from the players, You'd be hard pressed to find a player not strictly paying attention to him when he is talking, and heaven help them if he were to see someone not paying attention.
On to a few more actual notes.
My goal was to watch the specialist for a while and start working on receivers some. Unfortunately we didn't get any live reps other than specialists, so I'll start with that.
Like we talked about some in the other thread with @BigHorse85 there is a lot of changeover and the staff is letting the players work through and battle some. Like we talked about before, the punter situation looks like it is coming down to a battle between Blake Boyles and Kyle Postman. I'm going to not judge everything by one practice but yesterday was a struggle both early on which may can be explained away with how windy it was. Postman struggled a bit with consistency, at one point having Herman ask him openly if he wanted the job promptly following by Herman urging him to step up and take it then.
For the deep snapper position, big shoes to fill with the departure of 2 back to back long term snappers who were very good at what they did. There were a few players working at snapping Tuesday, including Zach Faires (took most 1st team snaps) who is the biggest of the bunch and seemed to have the most snap on getting the ball back to the punter. Also getting reps were John Letter, Payton Pardee and a little Byron Simpson. Luckily this is spring and not fall or there would be a lot more concern about this unit's level at the moment. Plenty of time for development though.
The way it appears at the moment is Faires and Postma as the starters with Letter and Boyles battling for the spot as well. The kickers were out kicking some before practice began but they didn't do anything during the open period we had so we'll watch again some more today. It still seems like Ty Cummings job with Joel Scarborough out there as well.
Again, we did;t see a whole lot of actual action but they did run through some plays against a scout defense at half speed and I got the depth chart:
1st team had Greg Ward and Kaliq Kokuma in the backfield, protected up front (L-R) by Marcu Oliver, Ryan Deshotel, Will Noble, Kameron Elope and Na'Ty Rodgers. Ra'Shaad Samples and Chance Allen were split out right with Steven Dunbar on the other side and Tyler McClosky on Rodgers right hip.
When the first team came back out, a couple of wrinkles they included was taking McClosky off and adding Ra'Shaad Samples as well as lining up some with McClosky still on the right hip of Rodgers but with Ward flanked on his left and right by Kokuma and Samples respectively. In this formation, Dunbar and Chance Allen were together on the left side.
2nd team up was led by Postman who was joined in the back field by Kevrin Justice and protected up front by (again L-R) Josh Jones, Mason Denley, Colton Freeman, Mac Long and Jarrid Williams.
John Leday and Linell Bonner were split out right with Isaiah Johnson on the right.
I'll be back out this afternoon and will work on a defensive position group and watch the depth chart on that side as well.
