The afternoon practice, also held inside of the stadium, didn’t seem as intense as the morning session. By that I mean that it seemed like they did more individual unit drills than the 11x11s and 7x7s. Perhaps that was planned -- after all at least two players remarked about how the tempo of the pro level practices caught them off guard a bit and sapped their energy toward the end. Or maybe it was a result of the sloppiness from the morning practice – hard to say.
Overall it didn’t seem as sloppy as the morning session, which is a positive. But there were still some ups and downs as the youngsters continued to grasp what was presented to them in the classroom.
Anyway, here are some quick notes from the afternoon session…
Rhett Bomar seems to like scrambling. On more than a handful of occasions, he abandoned the pocket and rolled left or right only to find a safety valve. That could be him just getting used to reading things downfield, or maybe it’s just impatience, but it was a trend I noticed in both practices.
The play of the afternoon, in my opinion, was S Sha’reff Rashad’s interception of an André Woodson pass against WR Ottis Lewis, who was added to the roster after Maurice Covington, a tryout hopeful from Virginia, was let go.
TEs Travis Beckum (cramps) and Jeff Postell (tryout, Delaware State) had to leave the practice midway through. Not sure what Postell’s issue was – it looked to be a leg injury, but certainly when you’re trying out and you can’t complete the tryout, that can’t bode well for you.
Speaking of Postell, I saw him make a reception and then run with his head down. Not exactly the smartest thing to do, I’d think as if you collide with someone that’s going to hurt in the morning.
André Woodson’s shaky day continued as the threw numerous wobblers and off-target passes, including one intended for Ramses Barden and another to TE Cody Boyd. However to be fair, Bomar, who looked decent in the morning practice, also was shaky in the afternoon. I had to wonder if all the side arm throwing was taking its toll on his elbow as it seemed his passes lacked the zip they had in the morning.
RB Patrick Allen, a tryout out of Oklahoma, had his share f woes today running the ball as he kept tiptoeing to the line. He’d approach the line, hesitate and that split second he hesitated was long enough for a defender to catch up with him.
There was a big defensive-wide celebration after someone – I couldn’t see whom in all the bodies – stuffed André Brown for a loss. Whoever the hero was, his defensive mates rallied around him and patted him on the helmet as they let out a big cheer.
LT cliff Louis had an up and down afternoon. On several running plays to his side, he didn’t get over fast enough to get his man, and as a result, the plays were stuffed. Then I saw one play in which he was trying to create a hole straight ahead only to be met with resistance by the defender that he was unable to overcome.
DE Maurice Evans beat Cody Boyd, making it look almost effortlessly on a passing play that resulted in Evans flushing Bomar out of the pocket. Evans is an intriguing candidate with decent speed and quickness and a little bit of explosiveness.
Stoney Woodson did a nice job of staying with Hakeem Nicks on a comeback route. Woodson literally pinned himself to Nicks’ hip and then at the last minute, stepped in front of the receiver to break up the play.
So that’s a wrap for today. For those who are subscribers, there’s still more to come, as I will write up the full report from both practices. I’m not sure how many guys I covered, but I don’ know I made a note about several players.
As for the interviews, I have some dynamite stuff, so once I get that written probably over the weekend), I’ll let you know when that’s available.
We’re back with two practices tomorrow and as usual, I’ll Twitter any updates as they happen – you can follow me at Inside_Football.
