Saturday practice in pads

[sportsdirector06]

I went to the practice on Saturday and made a few observations from the practice:

Jevan Snead is by far the best option at QB. I think that if he goes down, then we'll be in a situation like last year. Tapp is about the same talent level as Seth Adams from the pass skeleton drills they ran. Snead had a little more mobility than I thought he would, but he also had a red jersey on to keep from getting hit.

Markeith Summers is a playmaker at WR. Mike Wallace has gotten better from last year. Our WRs made our DBs look bad more than a few times. When Mike Wallace had Dustin Mouzon on him, it was really high quality of play. Johnny Brown and Jamarca Sanford will be solid at the safety position. The main issue is depth with the DBs. The WRs will be fine as they have Wallace, Mccluster, Breaux, Green, and Summers.

The "Wild Hog" formation or whatever you want to call it was used a few times. Mccluster at QB with Breaux in motion the couple times they ran it. Mccluster scored a 65 yard TD on one of them. I think they are just using this formation to test out the line and see how quickly they learn new formations and plays though.

Some of the players on defense looked a little sluggish with the early start time. Greg Hardy fell off the sled a couple times and Chris Strong forgot to finish a tackling drill correctly. They did a little bull in the ring to start things off at 8:30 a.m. and there was some hard hitting. I didn't have a roster so I don't want to say who had the hardest hit although one collision that was really good was by jamie phillips.

The OL and DL matched up one on one and just went at it for 7 or 8 seconds at a time. The coaches and players were encouraging them on. Brandon Green has a ways to go and Michael Oher was dominant. Peria Jerry had a great day and blew up more than a few plays.

Cordera Eason had a few good runs and broke some tackles in the second line of defense. The tackling overall was not great, but it was the first day in pads, so maybe just a little rusty. The other RBs didn't show anything too special but weren't bad either. Just a solid practice.

Jason Cook is a great FB...he can block, catch, and run, and he's just a really good guy.

That's all I had, pretty random, but my eyes were darting from position to position constantly and this is the first time I've sat down to think about it.

[Redbluedude]

Thanks for the update. Looking forward to us just being more fundamentally sound than we have the last few years.

[mmoore313]

i read something somewhere that Nutt said they would not be tackling to the ground. there would only be 2 or 3 practices where they did that, to try and prevent injuries. were they tackling full out in the practice?

[BigTrev34]

Good info. I knew McClusters speed would be utilized. I always knew how good Cook was, but glad to see he can catch and run. You could never tell from the games.

[john_avery_fast]

a few nice hits, but few actual wrap up and take downs. Think the emphasis right now is being in the right place to lay the wood.

[BigTrev34]

Sports director or Dave. Any info on the TE spot? I know there are a few guys and that its Traxlers to lose.

[sportsdirector06]

I knew I forgot about a position...maybe b/c it's been so under utilized the past few years

Traxler looked about seven feet tall at times in coverage against some of the LBs...his hands aren't great, but he was getting open. Johnny Brown kept creeping up on him and slapping the ball loose at the point of contact. He has the potential of being a good TE, but not a throw it up and go get it guy. I just think his hands would have to come along a good ways.

He was the only one that stuck out, maybe because of his size, but I don't recall the other options(Harris, Frison, Benedetto) getting a lot of PT. Again, I wish I would've taken my laptop and given y'all an update from there, but then again, that might be taking it a bit far.

[BigTrev34]

Thanks again. I wish we could put G Hardy up at TE, but he has to focus on being the best de in the nation next year.

[sportsdirector06]

we might be able to if the other DEs continue to improve

he could easily still be used in goal line formations

[BigTrev34]

He really should be but he prolly wants to focus bc he knows he will be a first rd pick and I know hes the sort of guy that leaves early. Oh well. ill appreciate em while hes here

[03rebs]

Thanks for the info SportsDirector.

[john_avery_fast]

He really should be but he prolly wants to focus bc he knows he will be a first rd pick and I know hes the sort of guy that leaves early. Oh well. ill appreciate em while hes here

considering he doesn't even focus at one position right now, that first round projection might be a little hasty. there is a reason he is running second team right now, and it aint talent, though Lockett has all the same physical skills and was actually a lot more touted out of HS.

[BigTrev34]

check ou the 09 mocks my man and everyone else. Hes considered a first round pick. I didnt know he was on 2nd team but last year he didnt start and he was one of the best des in the nation. Noy concerned about Hardy.

[john_avery_fast]

check ou the 09 mocks my man and everyone else. Hes considered a first round pick. I didnt know he was on 2nd team but last year he didnt start and he was one of the best des in the nation. Noy concerned about Hardy.

Just saying that his tendency to take games,not just plays, off (see arkansas game, which he started and was pretty much non-existent) may hurt him. and yes he did start the majority of games last season...all but two (one he was suspended and one where he was still in the dog house).
I am not saying that Greg doesn't have the potential to be a first rounder at some point, but it aint a lock until he gets to the point where he is ready to focus on his job, both pass-rush and run support. if you look at all the 'pass-rush' defensive ends that have gone high over the last few years, they were solid run defenders as well.
And i consider a mock draft over a year premature to be indicative of nothing, just hype.