Camp Notes for Aug 10th, 7 pm (long)

Wish I had pictures to share with you too, but my digital camera broke a long time ago, so.....Ill highlight areas, because I know some guys here dont want to read all this...lots of it is football nerd stuff.

-Shaun Williams and Colin Branch were the starting safeties, and WIlliams looked good all evening. WHile he wasnt spectacular, he was really good, and seemed to know the defense really well. Hes a big ************ too.

-As far as McClover's being big, which I was curious about his frame as a reserve DE, because Haye passes all the big DE eyeball tests....he has tiny calves, and tiny forarms, but his tris and bis are fucking huge. Hes tall, lanky, and very fast and fluid with his movements. He's a hand fighter too, and did really well in solo drills, and on one on ones as well.

-Shelton is a long strider for sure. ANd he still just runs too upright. In practice last night, he didnt break anything. ANd he was running with the third teams, and second teams primarily. Mostly with the thirds.

-DeAngelo Williams is a star. This is why I wanted him drafted so much. There were lots of live scrimmages last night with the first teams against each other, and while the run defense was excellent, and Foster made some modest gains, Williams was the one who broke two long runs, to excited cheers from the crowd and the offensive guys standing on the side watching. He is fast. He is shifty. He sees the holes. WHen he makes his decision, he goes with it. That being said, S. Williams and T. Davis both took their turns crushing him on two seperate hits that drew ooohs and aaaahs.

-Keyshawn didnt look good from what I saw last night. He had zero seperation, he dropped an easy pass, and McCaden intercepted a pass right in front of him as well as S. Williams batting down an easy one as well intended for him. In his defense, he ran lots of streaks and fly patterns, and thats really not his gig. He also caught a great pass with his body over Chris Gamble on another occasion, so it wasnt all bad. But hes slow. On the plus side, he helped spring a decent run with a nice seal off block too. Hes a really solid blocker, and gets good leverage, posts, and extends his arms....hes ok there. However, on a good note, he wasnt playing around last night at least. He seemed focused, as the coaches were being really tough last night. It was wonderful.

-Otis Grisby will not make this team, and Im sorry if that catches some of you by surprise, and hurts anyone's feelings. Im...Im just sorry, ok? But he was awful, and Sunseri was letting him HAVE IT: "Goddammit, goddammit, how many times do I have to tell youuuuuu!!? post your goddamn arms, ************, post them and disengage!!!!!! Get away from the fucking goddamn guy, we went over this yesterday, today, and you dont fucking listen!!!" He then called Pep over, and went over the excercise again, and made everyone start from scratch. INterestingly enough, I heard him tell Pep: "Pep...Pep....c'mere, Pep, you know how all them guy s try to hold you, and grab you like this?" Pep nods. "You gotta work on this too, Pep. This is your biggest hurdle, ok Pep?" They practice it twice. "Were GOLD, Pep, were GOLD!" I cant believe it was that easy. The difference is, lol, 76 gets the tongue lashing of his life, and 90 gets "we're gold"

-McClover on his first go-round at this drill gets STONED against Kadela....however, the next two times, he is brilliant. Against Kadela again, he does very well, earning praise from Sunseri, and Kadela getting scolded by the always fun to listen to Maser. Next time, McClover swims past Geoff in an instant, earning wows from the coaces, and Maser going nuts.

-Geoff Hangartner looked bad all night. Seriously, if he had his moments, last night simply wasn't among them. COulda been a bad night though.

-When it was Ma'ake's turn, he went against Geoff....he was driven back so easily, that it looked like a playstation game. Seriously. Ma'ake was a man among boys last night. Holy shit, man, he is a human rock too. Ive seen pictures, but out there in person, he looks like a stone golem. Hes a gladiator, and hes all that on the field as well....certainly in practice he is.

Tony Brown (DT from NFLE) was wearing 97 last night...and he earned lots of praise from the coaches. He looked pretty good too. Wp kept us informed on him, figured he'd like to know that.

-Seward played with 2nd team a lot last night, and hes doing too many good things to get cut. No way he does. He had some stops, his coverage was good, and he had a batted ball. I watched him and Anderson primarily, and at one point where ones went against twos on D, Howard and Anderson both covered Key perfectly over/under, and Weinke threw it up and Howard picked it after an Anderson tip. Sigh.

-McClovers got to work against the run a bit. He was average in scrimmages, while Haye looked pretty good. I still have a feeling this is McClover's job to lose.

-Thomas Davis really is fast, hes gotten bigger, he looks like a linebacker, and he can cover. He owned Key a few times. I know Key is slow, but Davis was covering Drew Carter at a point, so with him being able to go against receivers at times, itll make our defense flexible.

-Richard Marshall blitzed a lot. Through the A gap, outside, the C, you name it, he blitzed it. As a cover man, he covered Carter a lot. He was ok. Hes quick, hes shifty, and he got one over Carter once, and Carter got one over him. I wished I watched them more, but I was all about Anderson, watching him...and overall Anderson obviously isnt ready, but hes no slouch. There was a point where Marshall had excellent coverage on Carter, Weinke was looking their way, scrambled, tried to go again, but Marshall was glue. SO Weinke scrambled for a few yards OOB, and that was play. Sweet, Marshall, sweet coverage. The guy has got ability.

-Keith Davis is quick, and seems to react quickly, so I assume that means hes picking up the D ok....Diggs is a big dude.

-Ephram Hill and Jovon Bouknight were the priary punt returners, and they worked on fielding punts for a decent amount of time. Crossman was getting after one of our gunners quite a bit, couldnt see who, and his cursing was reverberating (sp?) through the fan field, and everyone was laughing. This happened with Maser a lot too. It was GODDAMN....FUCKING ASSHOLE.....FUCKING....GODDAMN....FUCKING GODDAMN....lol. Seriously. I love me some Maser.

-More one on one drills....Carstens kills Kadela with a rip move, and bullies Hangartner.---Quasi Mitchell is holding his own with Damione Lewis, nice, Quasi. ----D. Lewis gets revenge, great push back and rip, Mitchell earns scolding from Maser, DL praise from Sun.---Beasley over one of the 74s...--Rashaad Butler STONES Otis Grisby, and Maser is all over Butler with praise: "GOddammit, GOOD, 79! Hands up, head down, good, 79, way to go! Good job!!" Sounds like theyve gone over this before, lol. --Haye going over using his hands more with Sun, goes against a 72, and is much improved. Sun heaps a good job for Haye. ---Then Brown, (97 now) KILLS a 72. It was a murder....and Maser goes fucking crazy. "MOVE YOUR GODDAMN FEET, GODDAMMIT, WHY THE FUCK DO I BOTHER TELLING YOU THIS!!? YOU DONT FUCKING LISTEN!! I CANT KEEP FUCKING TELLING YOU TO SINK YOUR FUCKING HIPS AND STAY MOVING, WATCH YOUR GODDAMN FEET, AND YOU DONT FUCKING LISTEN!!!" It went on for awhile, prompting an old man a few feet back from me saying the language was too much for the children. I chuckled....----Sunseri tells Carstens to lock his hips more---McClover gets intangled with Beasley, and Maser offers advice to him. Tells him Beasley is sitting in the zone, and that McClover has got to get away from him. Yells at him to "get his hands off you".

-About this time I notice Kris Jenkins is sweat pants, and hasnt practiced tonight. Fuck, man, whats up with that?

-Kasay is back kicking FGs. A few 30+ yarders, then 40+, and then he boots through what looked to be a 48 yarder. Had lots of extra distance. Good news. Didnt miss one.

-Nate Salley was a little stiff, but otherwise, vocal, and seemed to be grasping the D ok. Late to react though, and like I said, stiff, so he's still learning.

-Lots of kneel down practices with Basenez.

-Practicing end of game with no time outs....get a chance to thrwo and connect on one, spike the ball and kick a FG. Some results: Carter drops a wide open one, earning boos from the sideline, lol. THe rest of the time, Basenez and LeFors get reps throwing to Carter, adn he gets them. Hill gets one. Bouknight as well. The all run up, spike it, and Kasey is good.

More coming.

 

Here are a few notes from scrimmage:

-Goal line, 1st teams. It’s a wash, D wins em all.

-Normal scrimmage from the 20.
-S. Williams INT over 17, covering 19, but drops the INT. –17 checks down to 26, Foster. –Key makes that nice body catch over 20, Gamble.

2nd teams, 3rd teams.

-Hankton drops a sideline zinger by 16.
-Hill makes a sweet grab over the helmet of 23, Howard. Elicits ooohs from the crowd. Throw by Weinke, 16.


1st teams.
-2 run stuffs.
-D. Williams BREAKS ONE BIG, darting into the endzone, the crowd cheering.


2nd teams. 3rd teams.

-Seward covers 22 (Robertson) on a checkdown and pounds him upon completion. Loss of yards.
-Goings scraps for yards. Has looked solid.
-58, Davis, denies Key on a sideline out route.
-Gaines catches one in the underneath zone, and runs for a big gain.
-31 owns 18 this series, lol.
-Wallace sacks the red jersey wearing Weinke. Drags him down and everything. Weinke is laughing.
-16 then makes a wonderful scramble, leaps up at an awkward angle and connects to 22 before getting crushed again by Wallace. WTF?
-87, King, drops a wide open pass from 16.
-McCadem picks LeFors, and takes it to the house. The sideline assortment of 1st and 2nd team D jeers and taunts the O, dancing and jigging. Its quite a sight. McCadem is getting an abundance of hugs. Wonder what that was about. LeFors had no business throwing that pass either.
-Goings makes a great one handed catch.

1st teams:

-Howard INTs 17 to 19.
-17 then connects on a beautiful strike to Carter, 18, with T. Davis and Lucas on the over/under. Excellent redzone 1st down.
-23 denies 19, KJ on a bat-down. C’mon, Key, damn.
-17 to 83. Colbert looks smooth, and catches one in traffic.
-Kasay boots a 30+ yarder.


2nd and 3rd teams:

-31 almost sacks 16.
-16 inc. to 12. McCullum I think it was?
-16 overshoots Haynes (24) in what would’ve been a TD. Haynes dives for it, crashes into the dirt, and laughs it off, with grass in his facemask. Ooohs from the crowd.
-31 and 35 deny 16 to 15. Marshall and Bush vs. Hill. Bang. Nice breakup.
-3 (Basenez) scrambles for big gain.
-3 t0 8 on a cross.
-3 dras Lorenzo Alexander offsides.
-3 to 8, BAM, INC because 59, Seward crushes him on the hell route. Sewards third teams now. Certainly theres no way Jerrett Bush is pushing Seward. Nah.
-3 misses 8 for TD. Too bad.


In the midst of all this, coaches are screaming and shit, and Whale screams the call for a Fumblerooskie. Says itll work, heh.

-3 scrambles again.
-another 3 scramble.
-Kasay boots a 45+ yarder. It’s good.


Practicing hail marys.

Overall, that’s all I can remember. They were going at it though pretty good. Lotta popping, and it was lively as hell. The best time Ive had as far as watching scrimmages, because they were hard, and each hut, the pads cracked relentlessly. These guys were hustling.

Seidman, because I just now remembered, caught a few too…but I only saw him twice or so.

 

Good stuff. 'Preesh.

 

I noticed that as well. I actually made it a point to look for how much goofing off he did, since I have seen those comments made in other threads.

 

Maybe he was talked to about that. COuld be it was a lax day for him. Who knows?

 

Makes me feel like I was there. thanks.

 

Fuckin' Shelton.

I guess the good news about Shelton being such an abvious bust is that we went ahead and picked Williams......

 

just like in the game tomorrow, I assume. No reason to have Minter out there yet. And it'll be an interesting way to see both Williams and Branch. Too bad our safeties aren't interchangeable :bananalam

that was my concern
he does need to work on leg strength, but if he's big enough and can play the run a little, I'm allright with letting Haye go. He could probably catch on with a 3-4 team easily.

This is what we missed last year. Inside was soft, but we could still run if we had to. And we didn't convert most of those.

this isn't his idea situation, no. In practices like this a DB will have the speed to hang on him and there won't be so much contact as to give Key the edge.
hopefully, being slow isn't a brand new thing for Key, and he'll still be effective. If not, we've bought an expensive, slow player who'll get frustrated and eventually melt down.

well for one thing, Pep's done it before. Two, sounds like he actually got right what the coaches told him to do.

This has been said all through camp. I know he's been going against some of the best linemen in football, but it's clear that the Hangartner hype is dead. Mathis has RG. And we're thinner than we thought inside.

He's not awful at all. He and Lorenzo Alexander are stuck on 4th team and are better than most of the 3rds we have.

I don't know why I'm so behind this kid, I just am.
I assume he worked inside?

also glad to hear anderson's showing some instinct. That's what he has to show in camp this year; the rest of the season, hopefully, isn't about him. He's so raw, and we have vets. Next year, he better be on his shit.

McClover's listed ahead of Haye. I think Haye has more technique and strength, and I'd like that in our 4th guy. I don't see McClover being better than Wallace in the next two years, and Wallace isn't going to replace Rucker anytime soon. Haye won't be better than any of them either, and has a little less upside, but is a lot more like our traditional 4th end.

This is flat out awesome. And yeah, it'll be great having a guy who can cover on that side of the D. Not since Fields. They're not the same player, but I'd love him in man vs the TE. He just plays better on that side, IMO, it's his end of the field.



.

Al Toeaina. He's big for this offense, and a little slow. A lot of people were wondering who between he and Stenavich would stick, but neither will. Montgomery will probably go PS, and we'll either keep Qasim Mitchell or we'll pick up a different backup G. We need a vet.


-About this time I notice Kris Jenkins is sweat pants, and hasnt practiced tonight. Fuck, man, whats up with that?

I don't think you can learn not to be stiff. He's well built, but besides a lack of acceleration or speed, he doesn't have the flexibility. If he had Gamble's athleticism, he'd be Ed Reed, but then again, so would I

 

One thing the media hasn't brought up with the Keyshawn melt downs is if key gets replaced by Colbert.

oll.

 

Thanks for the compliment. No problem, I tried throwing as much shit in there as I could.