First portion of the video is mainly one on ones and skellys. QBs are ordered: Christian Chapman, Maxwell Smith and Jake Rodrigues. Then some more OL-DL one on ones at the end.

Login to view embedded media

Christian Heyward went down during a live contact period and it looked bad. Heyward stayed on the ground for a bit until trainers arrived. Sat up, looked mad more than agitated, punching the air (remember, this is potentially his last year playing football), then was helped by two trainers off the field. He then was stretched out for a bit on the sideline and was eventually carted off the field.
Osia Lewis said after practice he should be fine though.

nm

Plano (TX) East WR Tim Wilson talks about heading back to the West coast for his college days.

VIDEO: Tim Wilson

Miscellaneous video clips from Saturday and earlier this week. The slow motion feature on the youtube settings icon is pretty cool to use when watching the OL-DL one on ones.

HD viewing recommended.

Login to view embedded media

Went to the morning practice earlier today and it was mostly 7-on-7, 1-on-1s and special teams again.

Coming off a good practice yesterday, Maxwell Smith had a good start during 7-on-7s but he started to trail off as the reps went on. He missed on some throws, didn’t throw to open receivers in his field of view and instead threw deflected passes to covered guys. Could have been a much better showing him from today.

A lot of the running backs got some action in the passing game today but none will be better than Pumphrey. You pretty much know the ball is going to him once he motions out and he is always able to come up with the grab and get some yards downfield.

On the o-line, Robert Craighead is again showing more improvement. Slater and Flores also stood out during one-on-ones. Joe Salcedo is still a kick slide away from being a capable backup and he’s going to need to improve in at least that aspect of pass-pro as he’s looking like the best option right now.

At WR, Eric Judge had one of the more impressive catches of camp. Focusing on the ball will be key for him and he showed it with a catch over Luke Bussey during one on ones. Judge ran a double move down the sideline but Bussey was in off coverage and read it well. Smith delivered a nice throw even though it was still a 50/50 because of the coverage. Bussey didn’t track the ball while sprinting downfield with Judge so Judge waited until the last second to throw his hands up and snag it, while running full speed.

I know during the spring and summer Mikah Holder was everyone’s pick to be the top WR this season but I’d put Judge in front of him at this point. He’s putting it all together while Holder started camp a little slow and is just starting to show some more consistency.

I’d lock in Judge and Favreau in as the starters at this point unless Holder and Mills really pick things up during the second half of camp.

Jack Bailey also had another standout day. Had a drop but was looked to a lot during 7v7 and executed.

-Randy Ricks got his first interception of camp.

The safeties did well again with Malik Smith having another impressive day. Known more as a physical guy, Smith looks much more natural in man coverage than he did last year and he deflected a couple passes during one-on-ones today.

Pierre Romain, Derek Babiash and Kalan Montgomery are starting to look like the top backup corners. Babiash and Montgomery are very good in press, and both slowed down Clewis off the ball during one on ones today - impressive considering Clewis is well over 200 pounds. Babiash and Romain looked very impressive blanketing in both 7-on-7 and 1-on-1s. Worth noting Montgomery is really filling out his once skinny frame.

On the injury front, Marcus Stamps was back in his boot today. I thought that was a little weird but he’ll probably won’t return until at least late next week.

Jake Rodrigues practiced a little today but don’t expect him to make a full return any time soon. Good chance he doesn’t play in the fall scrimmage either.

Tyler Morris was limping a bit yesterday and today he didn’t practice. Still nursing his knee injury from last season and his leg was heavily wrapped..

What's the deal with the basketball schedule not being out yet?

Ruben,
What do you think is the biggest needs left to address (position wise) in the rest of the 2015-16 year?

Jake Rodrigues went down during a full contact period and pulled his hamstring. Was a rollout play but he never got off the pass and got hit going out of bounds. Was eventually able to walk it off.

JJ Whittaker didn't practice. Pierre Romaine took his place. Dont think it's injury related.

-Pearce Slater didn't do live scrimmage stuff and Salcedo took his place in the first unit. Think the coaches also gave him the practice off.

Darryl Richatdson was with Adam Hall today. Had to pull tires. Hurt himself during the morning session. Doesn't look serious.

-Lloyd Mills returned to practice today.

Very short post here because I left my camcorder out there on the practice field and it’s locked inside. I typically skim over my video once I get home to make sure I got player numbers correct in my notes.

-The big news today was that there were a couple of offensive no-huddle drive drills for about two periods during practice (10 minutes). This was basically the first time I’ve seen Jeff Horton have the team do it, and it was pretty cool to watch. It was 10 minutes of fast paced, no-huddle plays. Makes sense considering Horton will want to implement a faster pace at times when behind during games. SDSU is also playing five or six teams that play at a fast pace/no-huddle so it helps the defense get experience against it.

Overall, the first units really had some good battles against each other and it was a really successful session - especially when you consider it was the first time the teams went strictly no huddle.

Oddly enough, the passing game was as crisp and consistent as it’s been all of camp. It seemed like 90 percent of pass plays led to completions, albeit no long bombs (25+ yard throws). Maxwell Smith in particular was very impressive.

First team run game was also very good, the blocking in particular really stood out and Craighead is starting to look like the guy for the job. All of the RBs consistently gained positive yardage. Pumphrey broke some long runs by popping outside and he also had the only TD during that session.

The second team defense again didn’t have it’s best day. Rocky has continued to refer to the backups and reserves as high school players.

-Because Rocky talked about it publicly yesterday and again today, I’m now allowed to say that SDSU’s defense will show a lot of it’s ‘radar’ defense this season, with all three linebackers and all three lineman standing up at the line of scrimmage. The defense did this during the first half and somewhat during the second half against San Jose State last year. They also did it in the bowl game on a few plays.

Rocky said he likes it because opposing lineman don’t have trouble figuring out who the linemen are and who the linebackers are based off their numbers. It also helps that SDSU’s linemen are typically slimmer than the norm, making them appear more as linebacker in some ways. Rocky even said that SDSU’s own offensive line has trouble figuring it out even though they know the players and the numbers and practice against them every day.

From last season: "It's not like pro football when they have a small roster where those o-linemen can point out where the d-linemen and linebackers are because they know all the names and numbers. In college football, sometimes you can get a one-on-one situation and still drop linebackers back out there for coverage.

"It's not random, but hopefully it looks random to the offense. They don't know exactly how to slide their protections or man their protections and you get some guys on the edge of blockers which gives them a better chance to have pressure on the quarterback."

The radar defense looks to be a legitimate option in his playbook.

-JJ Whittaker returned to practice and looked good but still worked out with Adam Hall on the sideline for the majority of practice. Rocky said it’s for precautionary reasons because of Whittaker’s injury past and that “he’s old,” but I have heard from a source that he believed Whittaker tweaked his ankle during a morning practice recently. Take that for what it’s worth.

Pearce Slater was full-go today.

Jake Rodrigues and Darryl Richardson spent the entire practice with Hall. Marcus Stamps is no longer in a boot. At this rate, I think Stamps still has a chance of getting some reps in the fall scrimmage, but it will probably be a close call.

Login to view embedded media
Sorry, IDK how to post pics of tweets, but...

"Former Texas QB commit Zach Gentry is "temporarily" working at TE at Michigan."

SMH, we see it every year and still scratch our heads why some kids don't want to be the "big fish in the small pond"

Broken hand. Will play with club. Can take it off 4-5 weeks.

Rodrigues also working with Adam Hall. 2nd degree hamstring pull.

I know this must have been covered but I don't understand why Ryan Pope is not playing this year if he is practicing.

Today was San Diego State’s first scrimmage, and while it was a small one, the first units got more reps than I anticipated so I was able to get a better feel for them.

First off, the thing that stood out most - and Rocky said it bluntly too - is that the first-team defense is more than a step above the second and third team units. When the scrimmage first started with all the older guys on the field, it felt like a real scrimmage. Once their reps were up, the energy dropped in an instant. Less energy, less talking, less signaling, and less ‘pop’ during collisions. Rocky started screaming “this is worse than a high school team” and such.

I asked him if that should be expected for the younger guys (pretty much everyone not on the first team has no game experience) by now, and he started to relent on it. I think his criticisms of the second and third team guys were definitely warranted though. Those groups have a lot of really good athletes but they sure didn’t bring it today.

Moving on...

-DJ Pumphrey got a decent amount of reps during the scrimmage, to my surprise, and he looked as good as advertised in full pads. Definitely can see him being neck and neck with Rashard Higgins for player of the year. All three other running backs are talented but Pumphrey makes them look just average at times. An Eagles scout was at practice and I wouldn’t be surprised if he was there to see Pumphrey (possibly Slater).

-This may have been Juwan Washington’s best day of camp. He broke a number of long runs and a couple of those were him magically slipping out of traffic and finding space on the outside. Just looked like he belong in the running back conversation today.

-Eric Judge and Jabril Clewis continue to impress and continue to look much more comfortable and fluid out there, especially in individual drills with Coach Cooper. I’d say the top four guys are Mikah Holder, Chase Favreau, Eric Judge and Lloyd Mills with Clewis being in a tier just below them with Jemond Hazely and Paul Pitts. By the way, Jerry Chaney also had his best day of camp so far - really did well during one-on-ones. Also caught a touchdown on a fade route from Rodrigues late in the scrimmage, although it was called back for a 'sack'.

-Worth noting that Hazely and Mills had hamstring issues during practice and started working with Adam Hall. Nothing serious though.

-Maxwell Smith, to me, has thrown a surprising amount of uncatchable balls this fall. I know some may argue that and say “well, at least he avoids throwing a lot of interceptions,” which is true, but I think there’s been passes thrown too off the mark a little too frequently. Whether it be overthrown deep balls (all the QBs need to improve their timing on deep balls), passes in the flat or passes near the sidelines (and I’m not talking about him throwing them more so out of bounds intentionally for precaution, I’m talking about passes just outside the receiver’s reach for no reason other than inaccuracy), they happen enough for me to really notice it. I don’t know if it’s a confidence issue, a timing issue with all the receivers or what, but I’ll keep a close eye on his overall accuracy throughout the rest of camp.

-As I just mentioned, the QB’s need to work on their timing when throwing deep balls. Jake Rodrigues missed C. Favreau wide open down the field during one-on-ones by a good 8 or so yards. Chapman under threw a would be touchdown to Holder yesterday. Smith has been more consistent in that regard compared to the other two but his timing could still use some work.

-Back to Rodrigues, I thought he was the most consistent QB during one-on-ones and skelly periods in terms of putting the ball in the right spot, and while he also had nice moments during the scrimmage, he did a little too much running and gave up on plays early. He doesn’t seem like the guy who will step up into the pocket and still look for a receiver, he’ll just make a cut and go upfield.

-Chapman’s starting to show that when he’s really on, he can easily be the top guy. Just has that big upside where he’s the only guy that makes me say ‘what a throw’ about four-to-six times each practice. He can just throw that perfect, pretty ball that’s well-timed and drops in perfectly to the receivers hands for a solid 15-30 yard gain. He may not do it consistently, but it’s a treat to watch when he’s locked in.

-On the o-line, Sergio Phillips took reps at both right guard and center today. He looked good in pass pro during one-on-ones and really showed off his pulling skill set during the live periods.

-During the scrimmage the first team looked like this: Kwayde Miller, Nico Siragusa, all three centers, Robert Craighead and Pearce Slater. The second team was Ryan Pope, Antonio Rosales, Sergio Phillips (or Flores/Maass), Darrell Greene/Phillips and David Servatius.

-On the d-line, Jon Sanchez had another good day as did Jordan Watson. I also should point out that I really didn’t think that Alex Barrett would be this good at pass rushing this early in camp. He’s got the perfect ingredients of burst and bend off the edge. He might have a surprising year in terms of the stats he puts up.

Behind the top three: J. Rochelin/J. Watson, N. Hall/M. Jackson and K. Kelley/D. Turner primarily made up the second team d-line. They’re looking like a solid foundation of guys ready to play this year. Kelley, Rochelin and Watson in particular had some really nice “sacks” during the scrimmage. So far Kelley’s sideline to sideline speed has really surprised me, by the way.

-At linebacker, Jay Henderson has progressed a lot in his pass coverage. He really only played defensive end in high school, but over the year he’s shown the ability to at least cover dumps over the middle and passes in the flat. His drop back is a work in progress but his long arms and overall athleticism really seems to help him out. Henderson also made a nice 3rd and short deflection today on David Wells near the sideline.

-At DB, no new news other than Pierre Romain and Kalan Montgomery have continued to run with the second team. Parker Baldwin also made a nice defensive stop on Pumphrey out in the open field during the scrimmage.

Note: expect a little less video moving forward as some portions of practice will not allow video footage.

Can confirm SDSU-Eastern Michigan home and home series is legit.

Today was easily the lightest practice of camp as the team begins two-a-days with another practice happening later this evening.

The team is allowed to go full pads at this point but they weren't (no tackling), and the practice was about 30 minutes shorter than usual.

After having a good day yesterday, it's still clear that Chapman and Smith are the top guys and the coaching staff seems pretty set on that. They got most of the reps today and looked better than they did during scrimmage.

Speaking of the scrimmage, the energy from the defensive coaches, especially White and Arnett (Gonzales a bit too), really picked up today. White was really getting on all of his cornerbacks every time they covered a route wrong or didn't give full effort after a completion was made (like jogging down the field when they already got beat by the receiver). Arnett had the same deal, getting on guys for not sticking to their assignment. He also had a moment with Kyavah Tezino that was pretty intense after he didn't cover a tight end correctly and gave up an easy pass.

Of the receivers, Richardson, Bailey, Holder and Favreau all had standout moments. Bailey in particular had his best, most consistent day, including a touchdown in 7-on-7 when Jake Rodrigues ran play action to his left and threw a great pass against his body while on the run. Holder had a good sideline catch with an impressive vertical jump after a stop-n-go against loose coverage from the CB, Richardson caught some tough passes over the middle and Favreau continues to prove himself as a deep threat.

Other names I took down:

Eric Judge has really improved his consistency and it's really shown the last two or three practices. Everybody's been waiting for him to step up and there's some legit pressure on him but I expect him to step up to the plate this year. If he can't produce on the field, I'd be very surprised and I'll start to believe that it's really just a mental thing for him that is holding him back (and can hold him back for his college career if he can't overcome it). He can't play scared when the bright lights come on again this season because then it would legitimately become habit for him..

Jake Fely had a good day and actually made plays during the 7-on-7 session today (not typical for linebackers) including some pass deflections against the running backs. Like I posted before, he's going to look like the old Fely this season, more so than people may expect.

Greene and Flores had some really good reps during one on ones. RG really is the weakest link in my mind when it comes to the OL. Big drop off after Greene. It would take a surprise performance for whoever starts at RG to remain the starter once Greene's six game suspensions is up.

I thought Kyle Kelley had some really good reps at DE. All the newcomers, really, are starting to look a lot more comfortable out there. It's crazy how quickly it happens but when you watch each practice the then-and-now difference if pretty easy to see. That needs to translate to the next scrimmages by following their assignments and playing aggressively. The guys that can do that on the second and third units will see the field this year.

Julian Rochelin is a good example. He's improving with each rep he gets. The OL/DL were doing a unique/different one-on-one type drill today where Rochelin actually bull rushed Nick Gerhard onto his back. He's more of an elusive guy than a power guy so that was a new wrinkle from him.

Sergio Phillips didn't have a great practice today and neither did David Servatius. I firmly believe Will Tui will be good but he still needs to change his body. Could drop a good 25 pounds and be an even better player. Gets tired during reps and starts getting lazy feet, holding, etc..

Jake Rodrigues went down during a full contact period and pulled his hamstring. Was a rollout play but he never got off the pass and got hit going out of bounds. Was eventually able to walk it off.

JJ Whittaker didn't practice. Pierre Romaine took his place. Dont think it's injury related.

-Pearce Slater didn't do live scrimmage stuff and Salcedo took his place in the first unit. Think the coaches also gave him the practice off.

Darryl Richatdson was with Adam Hall today. Had to pull tires. Hurt himself during the morning session. Doesn't look serious.

-Lloyd Mills returned to practice today.

Marcus Stamps was in a boot today and will miss at least 7-10 days. Sprained foot. Same injury as Barrett. Needs x-ray to see if it requires surgery.

Not very many notes from today as it was another very light practice (team was in half pads) and I felt like there were more special team periods than normal but here’s what I got.

At QB, Maxwell Smith didn’t have a great day - especially during the 7-on-7 portion. He just couldn’t find the open receiver(s), even when he had some available, and ended up holding onto it and running. He also threw some balls that were well behind target, including a short route like a cross to Dakota Gordon. Still didn’t have that “he’s the starter” moment.

Christian Chapman was back to his old self throwing really tight balls today. Still missed on a couple intermediate throws and he also under threw a pass to Mikah Holder deep down the middle of the field which probably would have been a touchdown. Kendrick Mathis was able to catch up and bat it away.

Jake Rodrigues probably had the best day overall, including a very accurate, low arcing deep ball which nailed walk-on WR Curtis Anderson - who’s actually a very good deep field threat for a walk-on, similar to Kene Anigbogu if you guys remember him. Whenever I looked over at J-Rod’s reps today he seemed to complete most of them.

Overall, as easy as it is to pick Smith as the starter because of his résumé etc. I don’t think he’s shown enough to be named the starter by the coaching staff just yet. To be clear, all three QB’s have been average to above average so far.

At FB, which to be frank I haven’t seen much of this far, I wanted to point out something SurfNAztec mentioned. Dakota Gordon made a downfield block during 7-on-7s last week, and he was doing so 25+ yards up the field. Gordon plays like that every practice it seems like and that was just one example. His energy and motor have really popped out whenever I watch him, meaning that he gives 100 percent every rep and I feel like that has a lot to do with his conditioning over the past year. When I first saw him in person without a uniform last season, he really didn’t look like an athletic guy. Obviously he showed off his athleticism during games both in the run and pass game, but what I’m saying is he didn’t pass the eye test at all as a fullback. This fall, he is - as Rocky would say - ‘better proportioned’ and it’s starting to translate into high-energy effort during every single practice. I expect him to stand out even more than he did last year with the type of shape he’s in.

I can see Seau jumping Bawden for the 2nd string spot pretty soon. Bawden doesn't really look physical enough for such a blocking-oriented position (he's been put on his back a handful of times), although Rocky did commend him for knowing what to do.

DJ Pumphrey will likely start receiving less reps moving forward as Price, Penny and Washington got a strong share of them today.

I’ve posted this before but Price is easy to forget because of the amount of games he has missed but I can see him having close to a Walter Kazee type season if he stays fully healthy. The only thing that would keep him off the pace of Kazee would be if Rashaad Penny/Marcus Stamps take a lot of the carries, which would not surprise anyone.

Rashaad Penny is going to be a problem in the screen game. His vision is great and he doesn’t trip up easily. Bound to break one or two long ones this year on screens.

Washington’s still not a between-the-tackles guy but he’s a legitimate threat on the outside. In the freshman period he actually took a pitch and cut behind Ryan Pope, though, going for a 40-yard gain which would've been a touchdown.

That run was one of the highlight plays of the day with two highlight blocks, too. Pope made the key block on the outside, opening up the hole and reengaging with the defender once he readjusted his angle toward Washington. On the inside, Sergio Phillips reached Ronley Lakalaka in the second level and drove him back a good 10-15 yards before they ended up tripping over Dwayne Parchment (who missed Washington on a diving tackle) with Lakalaka on his back. I think Phillips would have pancaked Lakalaka eventually either way.

Tthe three centers have all had very good days at some point during camp so far and while on most days I’m able to pick out the best or second best, today they all really performed well. I don’t think the center position should be a concern anymore, and I also believe that while only one will get the starting center spot, I would not be surprised if another one gets a starting spot at the open right guard position over time (as of now I think any of the three are better than Krum and Rosales at least). Just something to keep an eye on because all three are competing at a starter worthy level early on in camp. Remember, Coach Schmidt said he’s going to pick the most consistent guy.

Pope once again had a standout day. I’ve said this before but I really didn’t see him progressing this fast once he arrived in the spring. I thought he would redshirt because of his skillset (rawness) but I was wrong; he’s capable of playing this year even though he won’t.

Ryan Krum just doesn’t look good right now. Gets beat a lot during one on ones and on one live play today I saw him pull inside and let freshman safety Jeff Clay get past him for a tackle on Rashaad Penny. Krum’s one of the heaviest guys on the team and Clay’s about 175, so to see Clay push his way past him at the line of scrimmage and stop Penny was surprising.

On the d-line, Julian Rochelin had another good day. He’s a matchup nightmare for Joe Salcedo and he gets past him on the edge every time.

Kyle Kelly pancaked Nick Gerhard during a one-on-one rep. Kelly can play either nose or end but as of now I like him as a nose tackle. He just looks more comfortable inside and his skill set translates well at that spot. I think Kelly can be a version of how Alex Barrett was last season at nose, and he would also offer a contrasting style to Christian Heyward and/or Noble Hall/Jordan Watson when he is rotated in.

Kameron Kelly showed off some range that I didn’t think he had in him. I have video of it but I was late to press record, but anyway, Maxwell Smith had Eric Judge wide open down the sideline. Everyone on this board should know that Judge has some wheels, so in my head I thought it was an easy touchdown. Kelly, running diagonally (which is hard to do at your top-speed), covered a ton of ground and ended up picking it off. It was an underthrow by Smith but the ball was still far enough to take a really, really good safety to reach, and Kelly did it.

Danny Gonzales got Kelly’s attention after the play, crediting him for the pick and reminding him that the safeties had just practiced a coverage drill minutes earlier that put them in a comparable scenario. That prompted Kendrick Mathis to shout back, ‘yup, that was all you coach.’ There’s no doubt Coach G is really liked by his group; another reason why Long probably picked him to be the pseudo-defensive coordinator during the spring.

Also, later in the practice, freshman warrior Ron Smith had a nice sack and strip when he blitzed on the outside (walk-on OL Elijah Wofford didn’t see him) against a play-action play. Smith basically pushed Rashaad Penny down to his knee, then reached over and stripped the ball from Jake Rodrigues. I can see him becoming a Damontae Kazee like turnover-maker during his career.

Three-star Lorenzo Burns is visiting with teammates today.

http://sports.yahoo.com/highschool/football/recruiting/player-Lorenzo-Burns-167202

Seau is now playing fullback. The 250-pounder is replacing Sal Jeppi, who quit yesterday. SDSU"s fullbacks are now:
Dakota Gordon, Nick Bawden and now Micah Seau.

Saturday’s evening practice was SDSU’s first practice in shoulder pads so the team did less 7-on-7 stuff and more live plays but I’d still describe it as a light practice. The team will start doing full pads next week and will also start two-a-days on Wednesday.

There were much fewer quarterback interceptions today but still a couple of picks caused by receivers or running backs bobbling and tipping up would be completed passes.

Na’Im McGee had a forward diving interception over the middle when a pass was deflected into the air. Damontae Kazee also hauled in a tipped pass that ended up right in his chest and Austin Wyatt-Thayer stole one from Juwan Washington (who was playing hot potato with the ball on a short throw) during the freshman period.

I thought Maxwell Smith was a little better today but he didn’t do anything to make me think “he’s the definite starter at this point.” Both Rodrigues and Chapman had some very nice moments but still lacked consistency. I’d give Rodrigues and Smith the nod for better performances on Saturday. We should start to see at least some clear separation during the first full speed scrimmage.

At wide receiver, Holder, Judge, Mills and Clewis all impressed again. Clewis actually had the deepest catch of the day during the live period with a sideline catch about 30+ yards down field. He also made the toughest catch of day during the freshman period on a post route, catching the ball at it’s highest point right after his cut then colliding with the safety and corner back. It was no more than a 15 yard gain but the fact that he ran a crisp route, kept his composure and held on to it was impressive.

Holder and Mills caught everything today and I mentioned Judge because he was consistent and he also showed off his speed on a couple reps, including a crossing route against zone coverage where he found himself with a lot of space to work with down the sideline for a good 30 yards after the catch. I’d like to see him and Mills in a footrace.

By the way, expect to see a lot of variety when DJ Pumphrey is motioned out as a receiver. There’s been times where he actually lines up directly in the slot with Chase Price at running back, and there have also been times where he motions out with Dakota Gordon being the other back. They really are going to use him more in the passing game. It’s not just talk.

Juwan Washington is being tested early and getting more reps than Stamps and Penny it seems like (that will likely change once the coaches decide if they will use Washington this season). I don’t think Washington will see snaps at running back if he does play as a freshman. He doesn’t have the ability to gain yards between the tackles at this point, and is still more of an outside runner whether that’s the play call or not. Just my early guess on him.

On the OL, Sergio Phillips really caught my eye today. He looked like the best center out of the bunch. He just moves his feet so well and can hold his own against linemen much bigger than him. Much better pass protector than I remember him as too.

It’s a shame Ryan Pope can’t play this season because he’s progressed much faster than I thought and he looked like a top-five player. Physically, he looks the best out of the group. (I’d say he and Jordan Watson are the toughest looking players on the team.)

UAB transfer Ryan Krum has moved over to take reps at left tackle and while he’s a big, round guy, his skill set doesn’t translate well at left tackle. Gets pushed back pretty frequently - not as much strength as you’d like to see - especially against the bull rush and not a great kick slide guy either. Just goes to show how SDSU will need to get creative if Miller/Slater go down.

Antonio Rosales had a good day at left guard. I will say both he and Tuihalamaka hold quite a bit though.

For a second today, I caught myself looking down at my roster wondering which walk-on No. 53 was because he was impressive against pretty much every defensive tackle he went up against. Then I realized it was Robert Craighead. He really does look like a lineman now.

(Oh, also, Will Tui showed some of his mean streak today. During a run play that led to a standstill between a crowd of players, Tui ended up locking onto Pierre Romain and pushing him 10 yards down field after the whistle was blown. It turned into a shoving/wrestling match with Tui eventually able to get Romain on the ground. The rest of the players helped break it up quickly before it became serious, and everyone went on their merry way - as Rocky had him asked them to do yesterday.)

On the d-line, Rochelin has quietly been very consistent as an edge rusher. Still has to develop his strength and add some creative moves, but his feet don’t look as sloppy anymore and he consistently gets around tackles. I do think guys are still ahead of him in terms of making the two deep, though. Micah Seau especially has looked comfortable with his hand on the ground and his quickness off the snap and strength should make him a solid option to spell Jon Sanchez. He actually pushed Krum onto his back during one-on-ones.

You’d be crazy to look at the first team defense and not think they are the best defensive unit in the conference. Other than standup end/linebacker, every position has a proven player with lots of experience and none of them have taken a step back in terms of effort and ability.

It should also be worth noting that you guys should feel confident about Jake Fely. He has looked more and more comfortable each practice and I expect him to be back to his old self by the first or second game of the season. He’s ridiculously good against the run and reads plays so fast that those aspects alone make him an above average player. Then when you factor in how aggressive and relentless of a tackler/striker he is is, it’s no surprise that he’s one of Rocky’s favorite players ever. Obviously, SDSU isn’t in full pads yet so what I’m saying may sound like hyperbole but I will say that Fely’s non-tackling collisions with running backs on Saturday had some “pop” to them.

Going back to the stand up end spot, Jay Henderson is still taking reps with the first team. He’s a good athlete and pass rusher, but part of the reason why he’s running with the first team is that he’s been in the system longer than all the other guys. Fred Melifonwu has a year on Henderson but he’s suspended for the first six games. Kyavah Tezino, Randy Ricks and Austin Wyatt-Thayer just arrived on campus but expect them to all challenge for that third starting linebacker spot.

Also, don’t be surprised if Reggie Murphy sneaks into some playing time. He’s a lot more mobile than I remember him being.

Like I said, the entire first team defense looks very strong. But I want to point out how well Damontae Kazee is doing. He has always been physically impressive, but now he just sees things develop much faster and his instincts have really stood out. It’s really telling when you watch him dissect plays in zone coverage; he recognizes the likely receiver and his agility and tackling ability just takes over from there. He honestly has a shot of being an early entrant after this season.

Since there is no practice on Sunday, I'll be posting three practice clips videos on one post later today on the front page.

For precautionary reasons, I've decided to keep the practice videos here on the premium forum. The front page story links directly to this page now. Part of the reason for doing this is the new Rivals message boards has the youtube video capability, which it didn't have anything like before.

______________

Check out clips from San Diego State's first two fall camp practices.

Video one shows Maxwell Smith (17), Christian Chapman (10) and Jake Rodrigues (6) going through 7-on-7 drills (separated in that order) along with individual defensive drills on Day 1 of camp.

Video two shows Smith, Chapman and Rodrigues going through one-on-one and 7-on-7 drills (separated in that order) on Day 2 of camp.

Video three shows clips of o-line vs. d-line one-on-one drills on Day 2 of camp.

1)
Login to view embedded media
2)
Login to view embedded media
3)
Login to view embedded media

Have some takeaways from another light practice today but I first want to point out that Rocky was pretty open/joking about Bob Toledo and his playbook today. Basically made fun of how Toledo probably had about 150 passing plays and 40 trick plays compared to about eight or nine run plays in his playbook.

“He never got rid of a play, he just added them on through his 40 year career.”

Horton’s playbook is basically half the passing plays that Toledo had the players learn, and that’s why you hear a lot of guys on the offensive side, especially the receivers, mentioning how much simpler the offense now is. With Horton doing so, it allows the players to practice less plays, thus execute the plays they do use during games much better.

“It makes it tough on the younger inexperienced ones [when you have so many plays],” Long said.

Also...

There was a tussle today. Kalan Montgomery pushed Daniel Brunskill out of bounds following a catch, straight toward the defensive players sideline. I didn’t see who got into a shoving match with Brunskill but I know he was involved and left the scrum with his helmet no longer on. This caused Rocky to pull all the veterans aside toward the end of practice, basically telling them that stuff like that is a waste of time and that it takes away from the practice. He doesn’t want the older players to let the younger guys think that shoving matches like that is acceptable, because over time it leads to habit, which leads to penalties and ejections during games.

Moving on...

At QB, another so-so day for Christian Chapman. It was good to see him try some deeper throws today and his timing on most of them seemed about right. He also ripped some nice completions when guys were wide open on hitches to guys like Holder and Mills. He's throwing with more authority and confidence compared to this time last year (he used a lot of time in the pocket last fall). For a smaller guy, the ball really shoots out of his hand thanks to his clean and crisp footwork.

It’s pretty clear that Maxwell Smith is starting to take command of the offense now that he’s been with the team for about eight months. I saw him correct a bunch of receivers today when they lined up wrong; just seems much more vocal and assertive. His actual throws alone were pretty inconsistent, however, and he definitely let a lot of balls get too much air under them today. He’s actually really accurate over the middle and on 5-to-15 yard sideline throws but he tends to make some head scratching throws on deep balls and in the flat from time to time. I also should note that if he gets the starting job, don’t expect him to have that much better of an arm than Kaehler. I’m not saying it’s something to worry about - just don’t expect anything above average on deep balls. His arm on medium to short throws is solid - closer to above average than average, actually. But he's no Lindley on the 30+yard throws.

As for Jake Rodrigues, he’s probably the most improved QB out of the three. Better at making decisions. He’s making throws without as much hesitation as he did during the spring and he’s throwing tight balls with zip, leaving little room for errant, inaccurate throws. Still his a slow throwing motion when throwing deep balls though Even if he doesn’t have a starting role I can see SDSU using him as a weapon like they used the young Adam Dingwell.

I should note that I think Ryan Anderson should be good. Really reads the field well and quickly. Completed most of his passes and I didn’t see him throw any passes that touched a defender's gloves at any point of the freshman period.

At WR, Eric Judge ran the best route of the day (a stop-n-go which completely fooled Whittaker) while Favreau, Mills, Pitts and Judge all made highlight catches during one-on-ones. Pitts is getting much better at tracking the ball and adjusting his body before the catch. Favreau was the most consistent wide receiver today, running good routes, catching everything and making tough catches against defenders. I’d say Mills was right behind him in the consistency dept. He actually left practice limping a bit but looked OK.

Jack Bailey made a bad drop after Smith connected with him on a double move. Jemond Hazely also had a couple bad drops.

At DB, I thought Damontae Kazee had a great practice. Ron Smith looked good in coverage but he didn’t do a great job tracking balls coming over his shoulder and often gave up completions despite being in the right place (just failed to locate and make a play on the ball). Billy Vaughn looked a little stiff turning his hips today. Really struggled in that aspect which makes me think he’s still recovering from injuries. Pierre Romain is likely the 3rd corner right now. Kalan Montgomery has impressed through two practices. He’s not getting fooled by advanced or complex routes as much as he used to. Definitely has starter-level athleticism and should be used this season against 6-4+ non-primary receivers.

During the skelly portion there were at least four picks that I saw. Munson got the first (on the very first play), Ron Smith got another (against J-Rod) and then again during the later session. Ryan Dunn also got a pick on Maxwell Smith. Every interception was the QB just being unaware of the defensive guys shading the areas where the WR made their cut. You can place the blame on QBs not reading the coverage completely or the WRs not adjusting to the coverages.

Looked like the second team d-line unit was Julian Rochelin, Dakota Turner and Noble Hall at nose. I think Hall would be a good option to rotate with Heyward this season as I expect to see more reps from him than people may expect this year (even though it won't be too much with Heyward looking really really good so far).

On the o-line, I’m liking Maass for the center spot as of now. Again, no pads have been put on but he’s very consistent and that’s what Schmidt is looking for. Flores is bigger/wider and very strong (especially lower body), and Phillips has great feet and explosion, but in terms of looking for the total package, my early prediction is on Maass. Still a very close race with all three guys having different attributes to offer.

By the way, Schmidt said that with Ryan Pope out, Joe Salcedo will likely be the backup left tackle and right tackle (there’s not many other options at this point). He also pointed Salcedo out as a guy who really improved his size/weight since he’s arrived on campus.

If you guys ever make it out to a practice, one of the better matchups to watch is between Heyward and Siragusa during one-on-ones. Always a good rep for those two. The standouts today were Heyward, Barrett, Flores, Pope, Slater and Siragusa.

Lastly, here’s a list of some new walk-ons:

OT David Servatius from LBCC

OL Elijah Wofford from La Costa Canyon

OL Lucas Hassett from Novato (same school as Damon Moore)

DB Garrett Binkley from Ramona

WR Liam Cabrera from Canyon Country

DB Israel Cabrera from Canyon high (twin)

WR Dominic Rose from King City

DB/LB Ardis Perez from Gardena Serra

WR Taylor Dodds from El Toro

LS Ryan Simmons from Dana Hills

TE Kahale Warring from Sonora

DL Thomas Browne from St. Augustine.