I will do this and see how it goes. We were invited to stay for all of practice on Tuesday — which I, of course, accepted.
In the order I watched it happen:
• I love Vontrell King-Williams' passion and energy. He's loud, very loud, but he's most of the words coming out of his mouth are instructional or encouraging. He is not the guy to stand over players as they puke and tell them they should have been born. He will get after them when they keep making mistakes (I don't want to single players out at this stage) but then he'll tap them on the helmet when they finally get it right. He makes them do the drill until they execute it to his satisfaction. At times on Tuesday, that required four or five reps. They had two groups over with the DLs; one for younger guys and one for older guys. Things were moving along much more swiftly for the vets. I'm talking about Jayson Jones, Keldric, Zeke, McLeod.
• You can tell that Vontrell learned a lot from Jeremy Garrett. His delivery and approach is basically the same.
• Jamonta Waller is fitter and stronger than I expected as an early enrollee. He also has that big butt you like to see in linemen. He is not tall. He is not particularly long. So, to me, he's an interesting physical specimen. McLeod is a short end and now they've got two. I feel like they need more length out there. I realize that Blocton or Keldric or TJ Lindsey or maybe even Joe Phillips could provide meaningful snaps outside — and they'd all provide the length I'd personally prefer out there. This is a performance-based game, however, and it's difficult to fuss over what McLeod did last season.
Waller:
• Lindsey and Amaris (uh-MARR-us) Williams have the best DL bodies out there IMO. That's definitely true among the young guys, but they're probably among the best overall. Lindsey is more wiry strong right now. Amaris just looks like a grown man. I'm so curious about him. They basically snagged him out of the football wilderness. He was a man among boys in his HS league and it's TOUGH to get a feel for how good he was at that stage of his career. I don't know if he'll emerge as a difference-maker at this level, but his very early returns are quite positive.
• I spent the next 70 minutes watching quarterbacks and then skele.
• This was my first chance to really see this new-ish corps of wideouts actually play a little bit. Cam Coleman was the star without a doubt. He was playing on the left of the formation for the most part and was being asked to work deep (beyond 15 yards) and the freshman did a really nice job competing for balls. As I mentioned in another thread, many of the balls thrown for Cam were underthrown. He was open deep, but he had to come short to challenge for the ball. In one situation where the ball wasn't terribly underthrown, Cam caught the ball in light traffic and accelerated away toward the middle of the field for a touchdown. The play covered maybe 60 yards. It was 25-ish YAC. He looked different when he pulled away. He runs upright and he's forward-leaning when he sprints. He looks like a sprinter running a 100 — but he's actually huge. I'd need to see a lot more before I get carried away with the praise, but he looks like a Top 10 player in the country. He was the best wideout on the field Tuesday.
• Though Cam was the best, I liked what I saw from Robert Lewis. He's the transfer from Georgia State. He's built like a slot, but he worked some snaps outside. He also scored a touchdown on a deeper throw. Again, it was underthrown and he worked back into traffic to make the catch and get into the endzone. I also noticed that he was unusually enthusiastic about congratulating his fellow wideouts/tight ends when they made plays. He was very positive and affirming. You love to see that.
• Sam Jackson, the transfer from Cal, was out there as well. He's been in a yellow (non-contact) jersey from the jump. He's a slot and he was working exclusively from the slot. You can tell he's quick, but it's difficult for me to judge just how impaired he is from the injury. I don't want to judge him right now. With that said, I felt like he was getting frustrated out there by the quarterbacks' inaccuracy. He was open-ish on a few shorter routes — arrows and digs — and the throws weren't ideal. He made a couple tough catches. He also dropped a few that would have been tough catches but weren't impossible. Does that make sense? He just didn't seem content to me. Maybe it's the injury. Maybe he's expecting more from the QBs. Maybe he was just having a bad day.
Example of "would have been tough catches but weren't impossible":
• I wasn't impressed with the QBs, obviously. I wasn't really pairing each throw with each quarterback because I was watching the receiver/DB dynamic more. I can say that Walker White, for the most part, misses short when he misses. And he had some worm-burners, too. Some of these throws were almost impossibly short. I am not drawing conclusions on that because he's a HS senior and he's been coached at Auburn for just a couple weeks now. He's probably anxious about being on this stage against some good (and experienced) defensive backs, so let's cut him some slack.
• There's a walk-on quarterback named John Colvin, wears the 20 jersey, and I like watching him throw. He's a lefty and he throws tight spirals all the time. It's a really pretty thing to watch. No, he will not challenge these guys for a start on Saturdays. He is not a secret weapon. I'm just saying the kid throws a beautiful ball.
• I spoke earlier about Vontrell being a loud and tenacious (yet generally positive) guy on the field. Josh Aldridge is even louder, but he will absolutely chew ass. He would terrify me as a player because he'll come running across the field in a dead run to give someone the Riot Act for making a mistake. Remember, too, that he's working with more experienced guys and he rightly has higher expectations for them. But, guys, he chews ass with the best of them.
EDITORIAL NOTE: Video and still photos were not allowed after the first 20 minutes.
(ps: Added emojis @Scott Stapp Enthusiast)
In the order I watched it happen:
• I love Vontrell King-Williams' passion and energy. He's loud, very loud, but he's most of the words coming out of his mouth are instructional or encouraging. He is not the guy to stand over players as they puke and tell them they should have been born. He will get after them when they keep making mistakes (I don't want to single players out at this stage) but then he'll tap them on the helmet when they finally get it right. He makes them do the drill until they execute it to his satisfaction. At times on Tuesday, that required four or five reps. They had two groups over with the DLs; one for younger guys and one for older guys. Things were moving along much more swiftly for the vets. I'm talking about Jayson Jones, Keldric, Zeke, McLeod.
• You can tell that Vontrell learned a lot from Jeremy Garrett. His delivery and approach is basically the same.
• Jamonta Waller is fitter and stronger than I expected as an early enrollee. He also has that big butt you like to see in linemen. He is not tall. He is not particularly long. So, to me, he's an interesting physical specimen. McLeod is a short end and now they've got two. I feel like they need more length out there. I realize that Blocton or Keldric or TJ Lindsey or maybe even Joe Phillips could provide meaningful snaps outside — and they'd all provide the length I'd personally prefer out there. This is a performance-based game, however, and it's difficult to fuss over what McLeod did last season.
Waller:
• Lindsey and Amaris (uh-MARR-us) Williams have the best DL bodies out there IMO. That's definitely true among the young guys, but they're probably among the best overall. Lindsey is more wiry strong right now. Amaris just looks like a grown man. I'm so curious about him. They basically snagged him out of the football wilderness. He was a man among boys in his HS league and it's TOUGH to get a feel for how good he was at that stage of his career. I don't know if he'll emerge as a difference-maker at this level, but his very early returns are quite positive.
• I spent the next 70 minutes watching quarterbacks and then skele.
• This was my first chance to really see this new-ish corps of wideouts actually play a little bit. Cam Coleman was the star without a doubt. He was playing on the left of the formation for the most part and was being asked to work deep (beyond 15 yards) and the freshman did a really nice job competing for balls. As I mentioned in another thread, many of the balls thrown for Cam were underthrown. He was open deep, but he had to come short to challenge for the ball. In one situation where the ball wasn't terribly underthrown, Cam caught the ball in light traffic and accelerated away toward the middle of the field for a touchdown. The play covered maybe 60 yards. It was 25-ish YAC. He looked different when he pulled away. He runs upright and he's forward-leaning when he sprints. He looks like a sprinter running a 100 — but he's actually huge. I'd need to see a lot more before I get carried away with the praise, but he looks like a Top 10 player in the country. He was the best wideout on the field Tuesday.
• Though Cam was the best, I liked what I saw from Robert Lewis. He's the transfer from Georgia State. He's built like a slot, but he worked some snaps outside. He also scored a touchdown on a deeper throw. Again, it was underthrown and he worked back into traffic to make the catch and get into the endzone. I also noticed that he was unusually enthusiastic about congratulating his fellow wideouts/tight ends when they made plays. He was very positive and affirming. You love to see that.
• Sam Jackson, the transfer from Cal, was out there as well. He's been in a yellow (non-contact) jersey from the jump. He's a slot and he was working exclusively from the slot. You can tell he's quick, but it's difficult for me to judge just how impaired he is from the injury. I don't want to judge him right now. With that said, I felt like he was getting frustrated out there by the quarterbacks' inaccuracy. He was open-ish on a few shorter routes — arrows and digs — and the throws weren't ideal. He made a couple tough catches. He also dropped a few that would have been tough catches but weren't impossible. Does that make sense? He just didn't seem content to me. Maybe it's the injury. Maybe he's expecting more from the QBs. Maybe he was just having a bad day.
Example of "would have been tough catches but weren't impossible":
• I wasn't impressed with the QBs, obviously. I wasn't really pairing each throw with each quarterback because I was watching the receiver/DB dynamic more. I can say that Walker White, for the most part, misses short when he misses. And he had some worm-burners, too. Some of these throws were almost impossibly short. I am not drawing conclusions on that because he's a HS senior and he's been coached at Auburn for just a couple weeks now. He's probably anxious about being on this stage against some good (and experienced) defensive backs, so let's cut him some slack.
• There's a walk-on quarterback named John Colvin, wears the 20 jersey, and I like watching him throw. He's a lefty and he throws tight spirals all the time. It's a really pretty thing to watch. No, he will not challenge these guys for a start on Saturdays. He is not a secret weapon. I'm just saying the kid throws a beautiful ball.
• I spoke earlier about Vontrell being a loud and tenacious (yet generally positive) guy on the field. Josh Aldridge is even louder, but he will absolutely chew ass. He would terrify me as a player because he'll come running across the field in a dead run to give someone the Riot Act for making a mistake. Remember, too, that he's working with more experienced guys and he rightly has higher expectations for them. But, guys, he chews ass with the best of them.
EDITORIAL NOTE: Video and still photos were not allowed after the first 20 minutes.
(ps: Added emojis @Scott Stapp Enthusiast)
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