Found out today that Friday's scrimmage will be closed but I still got some good notes and observations out of today.
Today's practice was the first one with actual shoulder pads, making it more physical, but it was still a pretty limited practice in terms of contact. Toward the end of practice, for example, there were two plays on one drive where a defensive lineman got a hand on the quarterback's throwing arm mid-throw, causing the ball to hit the ground each time and end the play. This was not only counterproductive to the flow of practice, but it was also a sign of poor discipline since Rocky Long made it clear that the QBs shouldn't be hit in anyway. So when it happened the second time, this time by DL Noble Hall, coach Osia Lewis stepped in and gave Hall an earful.
Getting a hand on the QB isn't all that bad, but until the team goes into full contact practices starting this Friday, the goal here for the coaches is to instill discipline.
There was another example earlier in practice during 7-on-7s when Jemond Hazely took a blindside hit right as the play was being whistled dead, and Rocky basically yelled at the aggressor, "this isn't even a team period dammit."
I say this just to give you guys a feel about the type of practice it was. You can tell the team is eager to scrimmage.
Today was also the first time we were shown the warrior drill, the session when offensive and defensive players go up against each other while the entire team circles around. The defense lost the overall battle and had to do pushups as punishment. It should be noted that the Mission Hills head coach, along with some recruits including DB WIll Stricklin and TE/LB Justus Te'i, were in attendance so it'd make sense to add a little extra excitement to the practice. FYI, incoming WR Jack Bailey watched all of practice as well.
My tally from the warrior drill:
-Noble Hall and Sergio Phillips split their reps
-WR Chase Favreau won his rep, I'm not sure who he went up against.
-S Kameron Kelly won his reps against Paul Pitts III. Kelly actually knocked Pitts out of the entire circle one rep.
-TE Darryl Richardson lost his reps to LB Ryan Dunn but those battles were pretty even.
QBs
I think Maxwell Smith once again had the best overall day but none of the QBs really stood out too much to be honest. He seems to have the best timing on his throws and definitely connects on more of the tougher, longer routes compared to the rest of the QBs - although there weren't too many of those today at all.
I thought Adam Wood had a better day and so did Nick Bawden.
RBs -
Chase Price doesn't get too much credit as a productive back but I think he deserves some praise for consistently performing at a high level. He's looked great these past two practices and it should be very difficult for the younger guys to steal carries from him this season.
Speaking of the younger backs, Rashaad Penny was just OK today. He had a fumble during a team period later during practice and Jeff Horton wasn't very happy about that. I'll be monitoring Penny closely moving forward to see if fumbling can potentially be an issue.
Marcus Stamps stood out a little bit more today, both during inside and outside runs, I think that having the shoulder pads on today allowed him to loosen up a bit. He also laid a nice smack on walk-on DB Luke Bussey while running out of bounds on a HB toss play - one of the bigger collisions of the day.
PJ Walker isn't one to break many big runs and you can tell he's still learning how to attack the hole and get to the second level at times. Horton pulled him aside a couple times today, letting him know where exactly he should be following his lead blockers.
OL
Joe Salcedo has a chance to be very good as long as he keeps adding strength and mass. SDSU currently has him on the second-team at right tackle, while JuCo transfer Ryan Pope is opposite of Salcedo at left tackle. Physically, Pope is very impressive looking. His lower body is big but his upper body doesn't have much bad weight on him. His biceps are huge for a former basketball player too. There's no reason not to think he can be a starter down the line with the right coaching, especially considering how much eligibility he has. It's worth noting that transfer OL Ryan Krum was in the second unit when Austin Maass went down. Sergio Phillips moved up to the first team at center as well.
Maass' injury was a little weird and it's hard to tell how serious it is. He gave a bad snap to Jake Rodrigues and the next thing I know he's on the ground in pain. I thought it was a right hip problem but Rocky said after practice that it was his lower back.
TE
I think you guys should all be very excited about Brunskill, Richardson and Wells this year. They are all very capable of being productive tight ends. None of them are quite like Gavin Esobar as of now, but as a trio, those three can all play at a high level. I'd be shocked if Horton doesn't take advantage of them more in the offense next season. They have been very reliable through two practices I've watched.
WR
As mentioned earlier, not too many big highlights today in the passing game. The only guy that broke a long catch and run score was Christian Cumberlander during 7-on-7s. He had a long TD on Monday, too, for what it's worth. He's definitely staying on his feet after the catch more this spring, a big improvement.
There was also a cool moment late during practice when the coaches were getting antsy about too much unnecessary contact. Lomax and Holder were blatantly going at each other for a series and talking trash after each play. Lomax held Holder the entire time during one play, but Holder answered back with a (double move) cross over the middle for a big gain on the very next play.
DL
First off, someone who stood out today was ASU transfer Sean O'Grady. He's a very good tackler at the line of scrimmage and should be a capable rotation guy at nose tackle this year. Very good at getting OL hands off of him and finding the ball carrier and getting leverage. That's very important for SDSU because if they can find someone to back up Alex Barrett, then that will allow Christian Heyward to play more at defensive end where he's much more effective.
It's worth noting that Aaron Boesch was taking some reps at standup end today and he looked much more comfortable there than he did as a LB during bowl week practices last season.
LBs
Just in case anybody is wondering about Calvin Munson: even though he doesn't take many reps, he sure is a difference maker when he's on the field.
Looking forward to watching more of the linebacker group next week when full contact should be allowed.
DBs
Another observation I had today was CB Derek Babiash and WAR Fred Trevillion might need to wait to see significant playing time for quite a while but both are very, very fast and instictual players. They haven't shown the best coverage or tackling skills, but both could be big playmakers in two or so seasons.
Na'Im McGee had a very good practice and was frequently colliding with running backs near the line of scrimmage during red zone periods.
This post was edited on 2/25 11:13 PM by RubenMeza
Today's practice was the first one with actual shoulder pads, making it more physical, but it was still a pretty limited practice in terms of contact. Toward the end of practice, for example, there were two plays on one drive where a defensive lineman got a hand on the quarterback's throwing arm mid-throw, causing the ball to hit the ground each time and end the play. This was not only counterproductive to the flow of practice, but it was also a sign of poor discipline since Rocky Long made it clear that the QBs shouldn't be hit in anyway. So when it happened the second time, this time by DL Noble Hall, coach Osia Lewis stepped in and gave Hall an earful.
Getting a hand on the QB isn't all that bad, but until the team goes into full contact practices starting this Friday, the goal here for the coaches is to instill discipline.
There was another example earlier in practice during 7-on-7s when Jemond Hazely took a blindside hit right as the play was being whistled dead, and Rocky basically yelled at the aggressor, "this isn't even a team period dammit."
I say this just to give you guys a feel about the type of practice it was. You can tell the team is eager to scrimmage.
Today was also the first time we were shown the warrior drill, the session when offensive and defensive players go up against each other while the entire team circles around. The defense lost the overall battle and had to do pushups as punishment. It should be noted that the Mission Hills head coach, along with some recruits including DB WIll Stricklin and TE/LB Justus Te'i, were in attendance so it'd make sense to add a little extra excitement to the practice. FYI, incoming WR Jack Bailey watched all of practice as well.
My tally from the warrior drill:
-Noble Hall and Sergio Phillips split their reps
-WR Chase Favreau won his rep, I'm not sure who he went up against.
-S Kameron Kelly won his reps against Paul Pitts III. Kelly actually knocked Pitts out of the entire circle one rep.
-TE Darryl Richardson lost his reps to LB Ryan Dunn but those battles were pretty even.
QBs
I think Maxwell Smith once again had the best overall day but none of the QBs really stood out too much to be honest. He seems to have the best timing on his throws and definitely connects on more of the tougher, longer routes compared to the rest of the QBs - although there weren't too many of those today at all.
I thought Adam Wood had a better day and so did Nick Bawden.
RBs -
Chase Price doesn't get too much credit as a productive back but I think he deserves some praise for consistently performing at a high level. He's looked great these past two practices and it should be very difficult for the younger guys to steal carries from him this season.
Speaking of the younger backs, Rashaad Penny was just OK today. He had a fumble during a team period later during practice and Jeff Horton wasn't very happy about that. I'll be monitoring Penny closely moving forward to see if fumbling can potentially be an issue.
Marcus Stamps stood out a little bit more today, both during inside and outside runs, I think that having the shoulder pads on today allowed him to loosen up a bit. He also laid a nice smack on walk-on DB Luke Bussey while running out of bounds on a HB toss play - one of the bigger collisions of the day.
PJ Walker isn't one to break many big runs and you can tell he's still learning how to attack the hole and get to the second level at times. Horton pulled him aside a couple times today, letting him know where exactly he should be following his lead blockers.
OL
Joe Salcedo has a chance to be very good as long as he keeps adding strength and mass. SDSU currently has him on the second-team at right tackle, while JuCo transfer Ryan Pope is opposite of Salcedo at left tackle. Physically, Pope is very impressive looking. His lower body is big but his upper body doesn't have much bad weight on him. His biceps are huge for a former basketball player too. There's no reason not to think he can be a starter down the line with the right coaching, especially considering how much eligibility he has. It's worth noting that transfer OL Ryan Krum was in the second unit when Austin Maass went down. Sergio Phillips moved up to the first team at center as well.
Maass' injury was a little weird and it's hard to tell how serious it is. He gave a bad snap to Jake Rodrigues and the next thing I know he's on the ground in pain. I thought it was a right hip problem but Rocky said after practice that it was his lower back.
TE
I think you guys should all be very excited about Brunskill, Richardson and Wells this year. They are all very capable of being productive tight ends. None of them are quite like Gavin Esobar as of now, but as a trio, those three can all play at a high level. I'd be shocked if Horton doesn't take advantage of them more in the offense next season. They have been very reliable through two practices I've watched.
WR
As mentioned earlier, not too many big highlights today in the passing game. The only guy that broke a long catch and run score was Christian Cumberlander during 7-on-7s. He had a long TD on Monday, too, for what it's worth. He's definitely staying on his feet after the catch more this spring, a big improvement.
There was also a cool moment late during practice when the coaches were getting antsy about too much unnecessary contact. Lomax and Holder were blatantly going at each other for a series and talking trash after each play. Lomax held Holder the entire time during one play, but Holder answered back with a (double move) cross over the middle for a big gain on the very next play.
DL
First off, someone who stood out today was ASU transfer Sean O'Grady. He's a very good tackler at the line of scrimmage and should be a capable rotation guy at nose tackle this year. Very good at getting OL hands off of him and finding the ball carrier and getting leverage. That's very important for SDSU because if they can find someone to back up Alex Barrett, then that will allow Christian Heyward to play more at defensive end where he's much more effective.
It's worth noting that Aaron Boesch was taking some reps at standup end today and he looked much more comfortable there than he did as a LB during bowl week practices last season.
LBs
Just in case anybody is wondering about Calvin Munson: even though he doesn't take many reps, he sure is a difference maker when he's on the field.
Looking forward to watching more of the linebacker group next week when full contact should be allowed.
DBs
Another observation I had today was CB Derek Babiash and WAR Fred Trevillion might need to wait to see significant playing time for quite a while but both are very, very fast and instictual players. They haven't shown the best coverage or tackling skills, but both could be big playmakers in two or so seasons.
Na'Im McGee had a very good practice and was frequently colliding with running backs near the line of scrimmage during red zone periods.
This post was edited on 2/25 11:13 PM by RubenMeza
