It was pretty warm and breezy today, and the team was in helmets, shoulder pads and shorts. We didn't see any 11-on-11. I did, however, notice that a lot of guys seem to be getting healthy. Mike Matthews and Tra Carson were out of their walking boots, Jay Arnold and J.J. Gustafson were taking part in pre-practice stretching and Shaan Washington is out of his shoulder sling. I was pleasantly surprised to see Josh Walker back out there. On the minus side, Jarrett Johnson was out (but doing sprints), as was Keaton Southerland. I didn't see Nick Harvey at all, and Speedy Noil was not out there. There's no indication Speedy is injured, but is probably still standing in the corner thinking about what he did (more on that in Tidbits tomorrow -- and no, it's not something horrible).
On the former player front, OL/TE/FB Ben Compton was out checking out practice. He's slimmed down to 275 pounds and is waiting to see how teams want to use him before either bulking back up or slimming down. He gave us a list of teams who want to have him visit, and you'll get that tomorrow. Damontre Moore was out running sprints before practice, and he looked like he's in incredible shape. He's definitely taking NFL life seriously.
Since we didn't get a chance to see any 11-on-11, I tried to watch as many drills as possible. One thing that's for sure, after watching the QBs throw: the Aggies have another super-competitive quarterback in Kyle Allen. One thing that Johnny became legendary for is firing off profanities at himself after a bad throw. Today, Allen made a bad toss at the end of a footwork drill and shot off a very loud F-bomb as soon as the ball left his hand. Personally, I like that. I want a QB that's his own toughest critic. Alpharetta QB David Moore was out there watching the QBs, so we'll see if we can't get something from him on his trip soon.
Another thing that was noticeable was that they're definitely serious about using zone read and the pistol, at least a little bit. They were working on a drill where the QBs were taking snaps in the pistol with backs behind them and an assistant crashing off the edge, forcing them to make a decision on whether to hand the ball off or keep it. This looked very similar to what Utah was running last year with Dave Christensen as OC.
The increase in size of James White and Brandon Williams is still remarkable after not seeing them for a couple of weeks. White is nearly as big as Carson (if he's not already); Williams isn't huge, but he's not "Slim" anymore. The change in physique for both is impressive.
I've mentioned a few times that Jordan Davis is undergoing a crash course on becoming a tight end. He's catching the ball fine now, but they're giving him a bigtime workload on blocking out of a two- or three-point stance. While Brandon Alexander and Caden Smith were doing the same drill, Davis was getting about twice as many reps (if not more) than the other two. He was under what you call a moveable trampoline (or whatever) to force him to get down in a stance, then move out and hit a tackling pad. At one point, Jeff Banks had him working by himself for at least 10 minutes without a break. They mean business when it comes to preparing him.
We saw some kickoff coverage again today, as usual. Quiv Gonzalez and Brandon Williams were running with the ones and Christian Kirk and James White were with the twos. Quiv seems to be putting together a very solid spring.
Looking at the receivers, the interior guys are more interesting with Speedy not practicing today and Josh Reynolds having been limited all spring. I got a good look at RSJ today, and he's got a lot more burst than he had last summer and seems more comfortable with what he's doing. Christian Kirk is really smooth, and you can tell he and Allen have a rapport that goes back well before this spring. During drills on crossing patterns, Allen would put few more RPMs on passes to Kirk to see if he could come up with the ball. Johnny used to do the same with Mike Evans.
The outside receivers today included Frank Iheanacho, Ed Pope, Jamal Jeffery and Jeremy Tabuyo. They also included Damion Ratley, who I was able to really watch intently for the first time this spring. Ratley is still really thin, but he's got huge hands. He caught one lob pass that was behind him, and he just turned around, slowed down a little bit and grabbed the pass with one hand. It was pretty spiffy. I'd like to see him up at full speed, but that play alone was worth the price of admission (free).
On the former player front, OL/TE/FB Ben Compton was out checking out practice. He's slimmed down to 275 pounds and is waiting to see how teams want to use him before either bulking back up or slimming down. He gave us a list of teams who want to have him visit, and you'll get that tomorrow. Damontre Moore was out running sprints before practice, and he looked like he's in incredible shape. He's definitely taking NFL life seriously.
Since we didn't get a chance to see any 11-on-11, I tried to watch as many drills as possible. One thing that's for sure, after watching the QBs throw: the Aggies have another super-competitive quarterback in Kyle Allen. One thing that Johnny became legendary for is firing off profanities at himself after a bad throw. Today, Allen made a bad toss at the end of a footwork drill and shot off a very loud F-bomb as soon as the ball left his hand. Personally, I like that. I want a QB that's his own toughest critic. Alpharetta QB David Moore was out there watching the QBs, so we'll see if we can't get something from him on his trip soon.
Another thing that was noticeable was that they're definitely serious about using zone read and the pistol, at least a little bit. They were working on a drill where the QBs were taking snaps in the pistol with backs behind them and an assistant crashing off the edge, forcing them to make a decision on whether to hand the ball off or keep it. This looked very similar to what Utah was running last year with Dave Christensen as OC.
The increase in size of James White and Brandon Williams is still remarkable after not seeing them for a couple of weeks. White is nearly as big as Carson (if he's not already); Williams isn't huge, but he's not "Slim" anymore. The change in physique for both is impressive.
I've mentioned a few times that Jordan Davis is undergoing a crash course on becoming a tight end. He's catching the ball fine now, but they're giving him a bigtime workload on blocking out of a two- or three-point stance. While Brandon Alexander and Caden Smith were doing the same drill, Davis was getting about twice as many reps (if not more) than the other two. He was under what you call a moveable trampoline (or whatever) to force him to get down in a stance, then move out and hit a tackling pad. At one point, Jeff Banks had him working by himself for at least 10 minutes without a break. They mean business when it comes to preparing him.
We saw some kickoff coverage again today, as usual. Quiv Gonzalez and Brandon Williams were running with the ones and Christian Kirk and James White were with the twos. Quiv seems to be putting together a very solid spring.
Looking at the receivers, the interior guys are more interesting with Speedy not practicing today and Josh Reynolds having been limited all spring. I got a good look at RSJ today, and he's got a lot more burst than he had last summer and seems more comfortable with what he's doing. Christian Kirk is really smooth, and you can tell he and Allen have a rapport that goes back well before this spring. During drills on crossing patterns, Allen would put few more RPMs on passes to Kirk to see if he could come up with the ball. Johnny used to do the same with Mike Evans.
The outside receivers today included Frank Iheanacho, Ed Pope, Jamal Jeffery and Jeremy Tabuyo. They also included Damion Ratley, who I was able to really watch intently for the first time this spring. Ratley is still really thin, but he's got huge hands. He caught one lob pass that was behind him, and he just turned around, slowed down a little bit and grabbed the pass with one hand. It was pretty spiffy. I'd like to see him up at full speed, but that play alone was worth the price of admission (free).
