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.
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.
Last edited:
