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Sunday, August 15, 2004

Longhorns: Putting on the Pads 

It's just the second day of full pads, so I wasn't expecting much from my first practice of the season. That said, here's some of what I saw (disclaimer: I'm still learning faces/numbers, and it was my first practice, so take this for what it's worth):

- Vince Young is huge. Huge. Threw mostly intermediate passes... A few deep balls... Release didn't look much different than last year... Dangerous in the open field, as we'd all expect.

- If I didn't know Roy Williams was gone, I would have though he was still out there. Limas Sweed has a similar build, and he was catching almost everything thrown his way. I know today's AAS said that if the season started today, Carter and Jeffrey would be the starters, but Roy didn't begin the season as #1 either. Sweed, I'll say, is the best we have right now.

- Carter and Jeffrey were hit and miss. Nothing special from either one, though Jeffrey did make one nice catch as he was falling down near the sideline. He dropped a few balls, though.

- MIA: Ced Benson. Selvin took all the snaps at tailback. He looked good, too.... Thicker than last year, almost like a Quentin Griffin. He made a few nice moves, staying low to the ground and making quick cuts in the open field.

- Speaking of Griffin, Ced was hit or miss. He made one nice break to pick off a pass in goalline D, but both Selvin and Vince juked him in the open field and made him look bad.

- Pass offense was out of sync and looked downright awful at times. WRs weren't getting open, and we didn't hook up many 10 yard+ routes. That should improve... I hope.

- MIA2: Mock and Nordgren. VY and Eric Foreman took almost all of the snaps at QB during the full O v. D drills. Nordgren threw a few times at the end, but Mock never got into the action. Don't know if he was hurt, but he didn't do squat while I was watching.

- Foreman looks uncomfortable throwing. He had one nice deep ball to Brian Carter, but most of his throws were wobbly and off the mark.

- Drew Kelson and Jordan Shipley matched up a few times in the WR v. DB drills. Shipley is quick as hell. He didn't get a lot of work overall, but he did have one nice catch-and-run, stopping on a dime and reversing field to pick up an additional 10 yards after the catch. Kelson isn't really a cover back, but he could stand to improve in the area. He actually fell down on one deep route and the WR caught an easy TD.

- Michael Huff looked pretty good in the 1-on-1 drills. He had the unenviable task of covering Sweed a few times, but he stuck with him.

- Starting DBs during the full O v. D drills: CB- Huff and Ced Griffin; S- Geiggar and Michael Griffin. No sight of Tarell Brown, and I don;t think I saw Marcus Griffin.

- Robison was at the DE opposite Crowder. Neal Tweedie got some quality time at DE as well. Tully Janszen was on crutches.

- Stevie Lee is huge. He got quite a bit of PT at DT. Okam looks pretty big himself, but I couldn't see how much PT he got. It didn't look like much, but I had a bad vantage point for part of the workout and was unable to see the lines for a while.

- We threw to the FB a few times! Will Matthews looks rock solid back there. He caught a couple of passes and was maintaining blocks down the field.

- Anthony Johnson is gone, so I have no idea who the #3 RB is. Possibly Fr. Ramonce Taylor. He got a few snaps in the goalline drill, and Matt Melton absolutely lit him up. Taylor tried a dive off tackle and Melton hit him mid-air, knocking him back. Taylor's other carry got stuffed inside the 1.

- Other freshmen I noticed: WR Myron Hardy looks like he could get some action at WR. WR's George Walker and Nate Jones were also active in the Wr v. DB drills, as was DB Ryan Palmer. I wouldn't expect to see those guys on the field during the season.

- I didn't stick around to see much Special teams work. I saw one punt, and Greg Johnson was punting. He got off about a 35-40 yarder with good hang time, and Selvin fair caught.

- Akina wasn't his normal animated self. He was actually somewhat reserved. Robinson seemed to have more of a presence back there.

- Pedestrian report, I know. I'll take a pen and pad to Saturday's scrimmage.

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