Not many notes because SDSU had a light day, other than a late two minute drill period. It was a helmets-only practice that was meant to correct mistakes made during the scrimmage on Saturday.
-A lot of tweaks were made during practice, like forcing the offensive and defensive lines to concentrate during one on ones more by intently trying to draw them to jump offsides. Both the defensive line and offensive line clearly were a little more jumpy than they should be but they eventually got the memo and didn't false start as much as drills went on.
-As for how the offensive line looked, I thought it was one of their better practices out of all the days they weren’t in pads. That’s good progress.
-I thought Keith Ismael had his best practice overall and looked much more comfortable moving around in his past sets and when SDSU did a little live team action.
Ryan Pope also looked much better than he did last week and his effort was much higher.
-Some news on the OL is that I noticed Derrick Achayo was getting some reps with the first team over Nick Gerhard. Looks like the musical chairs has begun.
-Zachary Oblea and Zach Thomas took some reps at center as well.
-Daishawn Dixon is one of the more inconsistent players on the offensive line. His missteps occur more often in pass protection. He leaves a lot to be desired in terms of technique when he has such a solid frame and athleticism. The same goes for Dominic O’Brien.
-Another focus of camp so far has been with Coach Gonzales and the safeties. That group has worked a lot on getting their hands between the ball and the receiver(s) and it’s working.
Most of the defensive backs have great down field speed but their technique when actually playing passes was a little bit of an issue early on in camp. From covering the team the past few years, it seems to be a big issue earlier in the actual season(s) too, so it’s being addressed now.
It’s already paying off and Trenton Thompson has seen the most improvement in that area, which is why he’s a starter. All the backups are substantially getting better at tracking the ball when necessary or reading the receivers eyes & hands when necessary.
Gonzales spends a TON of time on this during individual drills where he’ll have the safeties lightly jog and catch an over the shoulder catch while another DB has to react to either the ball or the hands of the receiver. It doesn’t look like much in person but it’s been a big help during team periods in my opinion.
-It has also helped the safeties into not giving up on plays when a pass is completed. They’re constantly making swipes at the ball afterward and it’s led to a lot of late pass breakups and even fumbles.
-In case you are wondering about how Christian Chapman will handle missing most of spring camp, I don’t think you should be concerned at all. He has looked great during 7v7 work and as expected not a lot of his passes end up on the ground. What I’m saying is I don’t think he’ll have much catching up to do when he does return to full speed.
-The walkon receivers have quietly been having a solid camp, Marc Ellis and Taylor Dodds in particular. They have to show they can produce more during scrimmages though.
-Some news regarding the corner situation is that it looks like safety Parie Dedeaux was moved over to make up for Tayler Hawkins’ absence.
-Mikah Holder had the catch of the day over Ron Smith. Holder’s wonderful at fooling the DBs into getting out of position as the ball approaches. He usually pulls up at the last possible moment so the corner has to react quickly and turn their body around to play it. Smith still had his back turned in this instance.
-On the defensive line, Myles Cheatum continues to look like a player. He competes very hard each rep and is relentless even after the point of attack. He’s going to chase down a lot of scrambling QBs in 2017 if he can keep it up.
-Noble Hall had a couple of reps back at nose tackle which I think is the right move. I don’t know if Gardner will be a dependable backup behind Phillips.
-Kam Kelly showed off his receiver skills during the defensive scout period. He caught a great overhead catch thrown by Ryan Lindley.
-Penny and Washington were returners during some of the special team drills.
-Guess who the placekicking holder has been? Holder. Mikah Holder.
-SDSU ended practice with a two minute offense and it actually went very well.
I thought WR Tim Wilson had one of his best practices up until that point, though. Both QBs put drives toghether but Mackling almost cost the second team a drive where he made a bad drop on a curl route. He deflected the ball into the air and it was nearly picked off.
TE Kahale Warring also had a drop at the goal line which probably would be called a TD. He ran a seam route past Dwayne Johnson and Johnson froze a bit and didn’t alter Warring’s route enough. He still has that issue of turing his hips and getting down field quickly but was lucky the pass hit Warring’s cheat and deflected toward the ground.
Agnew delivered that pass and it was one of the more accurate deep throws I’ve seen him make even though Warring was wide open.
-A lot of tweaks were made during practice, like forcing the offensive and defensive lines to concentrate during one on ones more by intently trying to draw them to jump offsides. Both the defensive line and offensive line clearly were a little more jumpy than they should be but they eventually got the memo and didn't false start as much as drills went on.
-As for how the offensive line looked, I thought it was one of their better practices out of all the days they weren’t in pads. That’s good progress.
-I thought Keith Ismael had his best practice overall and looked much more comfortable moving around in his past sets and when SDSU did a little live team action.
Ryan Pope also looked much better than he did last week and his effort was much higher.
-Some news on the OL is that I noticed Derrick Achayo was getting some reps with the first team over Nick Gerhard. Looks like the musical chairs has begun.
-Zachary Oblea and Zach Thomas took some reps at center as well.
-Daishawn Dixon is one of the more inconsistent players on the offensive line. His missteps occur more often in pass protection. He leaves a lot to be desired in terms of technique when he has such a solid frame and athleticism. The same goes for Dominic O’Brien.
-Another focus of camp so far has been with Coach Gonzales and the safeties. That group has worked a lot on getting their hands between the ball and the receiver(s) and it’s working.
Most of the defensive backs have great down field speed but their technique when actually playing passes was a little bit of an issue early on in camp. From covering the team the past few years, it seems to be a big issue earlier in the actual season(s) too, so it’s being addressed now.
It’s already paying off and Trenton Thompson has seen the most improvement in that area, which is why he’s a starter. All the backups are substantially getting better at tracking the ball when necessary or reading the receivers eyes & hands when necessary.
Gonzales spends a TON of time on this during individual drills where he’ll have the safeties lightly jog and catch an over the shoulder catch while another DB has to react to either the ball or the hands of the receiver. It doesn’t look like much in person but it’s been a big help during team periods in my opinion.
-It has also helped the safeties into not giving up on plays when a pass is completed. They’re constantly making swipes at the ball afterward and it’s led to a lot of late pass breakups and even fumbles.
-In case you are wondering about how Christian Chapman will handle missing most of spring camp, I don’t think you should be concerned at all. He has looked great during 7v7 work and as expected not a lot of his passes end up on the ground. What I’m saying is I don’t think he’ll have much catching up to do when he does return to full speed.
-The walkon receivers have quietly been having a solid camp, Marc Ellis and Taylor Dodds in particular. They have to show they can produce more during scrimmages though.
-Some news regarding the corner situation is that it looks like safety Parie Dedeaux was moved over to make up for Tayler Hawkins’ absence.
-Mikah Holder had the catch of the day over Ron Smith. Holder’s wonderful at fooling the DBs into getting out of position as the ball approaches. He usually pulls up at the last possible moment so the corner has to react quickly and turn their body around to play it. Smith still had his back turned in this instance.
-On the defensive line, Myles Cheatum continues to look like a player. He competes very hard each rep and is relentless even after the point of attack. He’s going to chase down a lot of scrambling QBs in 2017 if he can keep it up.
-Noble Hall had a couple of reps back at nose tackle which I think is the right move. I don’t know if Gardner will be a dependable backup behind Phillips.
-Kam Kelly showed off his receiver skills during the defensive scout period. He caught a great overhead catch thrown by Ryan Lindley.
-Penny and Washington were returners during some of the special team drills.
-Guess who the placekicking holder has been? Holder. Mikah Holder.
-SDSU ended practice with a two minute offense and it actually went very well.
I thought WR Tim Wilson had one of his best practices up until that point, though. Both QBs put drives toghether but Mackling almost cost the second team a drive where he made a bad drop on a curl route. He deflected the ball into the air and it was nearly picked off.
TE Kahale Warring also had a drop at the goal line which probably would be called a TD. He ran a seam route past Dwayne Johnson and Johnson froze a bit and didn’t alter Warring’s route enough. He still has that issue of turing his hips and getting down field quickly but was lucky the pass hit Warring’s cheat and deflected toward the ground.
Agnew delivered that pass and it was one of the more accurate deep throws I’ve seen him make even though Warring was wide open.
