Astrobot Posted August 1, 2017 Posted August 1, 2017 (edited) It's a hot one on aluminum bleacher seats, going up to 84 today. My grandson's here with me, and says it'll be 101 in Austin. So I'm not bellyaching. Got a chance to see Murph on his way to the press box. Croom, Reid Ferguson (snapper), Rehkow, Poyer, J-Will, and Sammy are over by the JUGS machine. Those doing the most work on the JUGs included Watkins, Tre White, and Ronald Darby, who both arrived later and stayed later. The ten players who were last on the field were Dareus, Incognito, Deandre Coleman, Leonard Johnson, Worthy, Mudge, Wood (no helmet; off-day), Rambo, Shareece Wright, and John Miller. Positional Drills were up first, short session. The QBs had Groy over there hiking to them. The Gill Byrd was the most vocal coach. He had the CBs and Safeties working on technique for double-teaming a WR off the line of scrimmage. I NEVER saw this at training camp in the past. At the end of positionals, Jordan Poyer gave Bradley Sylve a high five. During calisthenics, led by Asst for Strength and conditioning Coach Hal Luther, we gave Astro-Stars to Poyer, Colton Schmidt, Zak Voytek, Saxton, O'Leary, Incognito, Hodges, Dez Lewis, and Walt Powell for going "All In" on their stretching. Only 2 players dogged it that we saw: starting Guard John Miller and bubble Tackle Michael Ola. Back to Positional drills they went. Tate is doing exercises off to the side, and Colt Anderson is doing upper body work (throwing down a medicine ball, using a sledgehammer) with trainers. TEs are working on blocking. Later, I picked up the order the TEs go that seems significant: Clay and O'Leary go first, Logan Thomas and Croom go next in that order, and Saxton-Towbridge. WRs are pivoting around a tackling dummy and making a quick catch. After that, the WRs do essentially a 3-cone drill full tilt, then catch it. Zay Jones and Powell were best at this. Never saw this before at a camp. WRs have to catch a ball while being simultaneously hit by a blocking pad. Never saw this before at a camp. QBs are practicing quick outs, then hand-offs to RBs who have joined the fun. The RB Asst Coach is an excellent teacher and motivator with lots of praise when a TE "gets it". Today, Cedric O'Neal gets a "That's IT! That's IT!" from him. Jonathan Williams makes two catches where he "double-catches" the ball. That won't work in a real game. Worth watching. Daikiel Shorts makes a wonderful catch at the near sideline, securing it before he goes out. Well-coached. TEs and OLs get practice together, double-blocking one guy, then splitting to block a looping DE when the DE commits to a gap. Never saw this before at a camp. Karim Barton is getting coached up on how to handle arm moves. Castillo's coaching is direct and certainly meaningful, as Barton is listening intently. So are the other OLs around him. Over Pat Whatshisname, last year's OL Coach, this may be the biggest coaching upgrade. It appears as though Brandon Tate is getting a PT test off to the side. Hopefully he's back soon. Clay looks like he's making effortless catches, but it's his eye-hand coordination. O'Leary has this same quality of looking the ball in. O'Leary gives a high-five to Yates as they return to the line. TEs are first doing seam routes down the middle. This is an open seam which occurs often in a vertical offense. Then the TEs do an out and in pattern, where the QB throws when the TE breaks. This timing route practice is not anything I saw in previous camps, which blows my mind. With 35 seconds to go in the Positional Drills' allotted time, the defense appears. You can set your watch to it. Each QB gets one 11 on 11 opportunity, with Tyrod first, then Yates, then Peterman. It's all the same 4th and goal from the 8-yard line, and all three QBs execute subtly-different plays for a TD. Andre Holmes goes in motion and looks like the "hot" receiver. Tyrod hits Watkins perfectly in the opposite corner of the end zone for the TD. O'Leary motions with 4-wide (Butler, Powell, J-Will, and Philly). Yates is pressured hard and needs to throw it falling backwards to Philly in the corner of the end zone for the TD. Peterman has Shorts, Lewis, and Andre Holmes in a trips formation with Streater to the opposite side. Peterman throws a nice pass where only Streater can catch it for the TD. Punt Drill occupies all but the OL and DBs, who go work on positionals. Schmidt does all the punting (I didn't see Rehkow). The first PR is Tredavious White, followed by Walt Powell as Brandon Tate is still working on the sidelines. They are working specifically on blocking upfield for the returner, and the blocking is set up well. Powell didn't drop a punt; Tredavious let one punt go right through his arms and out, the ball bounding backwards. To his credit, Tre hustles back to scoop it up and take off with it, running it out. I love this kid. Mistakes are just lessons. Work continues at both ends of the field, with the 3s to our left and the 1s and 2s to the right. Peterman is off a little with some throws, but his WRs aren't helping him for the most part. I'm watching both ends of the field at once, which doesn't work well. Here's what I catch: At the other end Tyrod throws a slant low to Daikiel Shorts, down low where only he can catch it, and Daikiel catches it and rolls for the completion. I was a proponent of Deonte Thompson a couple years ago (now with the Bears). Shorts is better than Deonte. Yates is successful at drawing the Defensive line offsides --didn't see who, but it better not be Hughes during the regular season. Ragland knifes in for a TFL. Tae Elston and Co. stand Cedric O'Neal up for no gain. Jake Metz, a DE, teams up with Lindsey MLB to stop Croom after his catch. Jerry Hughes stops O'Neal for a short gain. The entire Defense swarms to O'Neal on the next run right. They are contentious. Vallejo stops J-Will for a short gain. Tolbert makes back-to-back runs that were impressive. If we started the season today, Tolbert and J-Will would back up Shady. Brandon Reilly falls down on an in-out route. Watkins plucks Tyrod's errant throw on a bubble screen and takes off. The pass wasn't bad but the catch was notably good. Watkins successfully ran all sorts of screens at Clemson, you recall. This shows a better use of Watkins' demonstrated strengths. Streater executes a great screen with Yates putting the ball in perfect position. Peterman does the same on a screen to Powell, and J-Will catches a nice left bubble screen pass from Tyrod. More work on Left Bubble Screens with Banyard from Yates, O'Neal from Peterman, Watkins from Tyrod, Streater from Yates, and Powell from Peterman. They move to the other end of the field and run Right Bubble Screens, the same exact trio of QBs throwing to the same exact trio. Observations: Andre Holmes stepped it up today, looking smoother on his catches. Part of this is the factor of who's throwing him the ball. If Streater gets Derek Carr and Tyrod Taylor to throw to him, he does better...but so would you or I. Zay Jones looks better and better, and gets plenty of work, evenly split between Tyrod and Yates. Nothing is being handed to the youngster. Catch of the Day was Croom's diving catch that he made look easy. He is among the lightest TEs in camp, but think of a TE-WR hybrid, and that's Croom. He's likely the 3-4th TE battling Logan Thomas. Peterman actually re-set a WR today, moving Powell in toward the OL. He then threw the opposite way to Dez Lewis for the TD. Later, Peterman's eye manipulation allowed him to hit a RB for a TD. McCoy took the day off. They're resting him so he can play into his late 30s. Swing passes to J-Will work wonders, especially when Humber looks inside too much and can't seal the edge due to lack of speed. Wonder if we'll draft a OLB with range next year. Tolbert got the same play as J-Will did, and he beat the OLB. Groy had one bad snap, but Yates' reflexes came through as he snatched it from going over his head. By then, Hughes had him for dinner, though. Jordan Johnson got some serious blocking and JJ followed them well, taking as much as the D ave him. Nice PS candidate. Tolbert got a lot of work with the ones today, and made the most of it with three 10+ runs. Want a fantasy steal? Tolbert. Tyrod was off on 3 successive passes one to Zay Jones (too high), Powell (led too far), and another WR (led too far). The Defense is stingy and is coalescing as a unit. They are stout on run and pass plays in the red zone. Banyard got stood up at the goal line and Rashad Ross couldn't get across on the ensuing play. Edited August 1, 2017 by Astrobot
I_want_2_BILL_Lieve Posted August 1, 2017 Posted August 1, 2017 (edited) Astro, you are on my must read list. I look forward to your posts after every practice. Thank you! F5....F5....F5... Edited August 1, 2017 by I_want_2_BILL_Lieve
SlimShady'sSpaceForce Posted August 1, 2017 Posted August 1, 2017 [i'll remove this when I am done typing] It's a hot one on aluminum bleacher seats, going up to 84 today. My grandson's here with me, and says it'll be 101 in Austin. So I'm not bellyaching. It's already 84 @ 11 AM in the DC area. 84 for a high sounds like a beautiful day
Peace Frog Posted August 1, 2017 Posted August 1, 2017 Astro, you are on my must read list. I look forward to your posts after every practice. Thank you! F5....F5....F5... Well, that's the polite way to say it. I was thinking that Astro's reports are the ****!
BillsFan4 Posted August 1, 2017 Posted August 1, 2017 Seems like you mention John Miller "dogging it" quite frequently, if I'm not mistaken. Kind of discouraging. Thanks again for doing theee reports. I have really enjoyed reading them. By far much better information and coverage than I read by most local media members. You should be getting paid, not them! lol
DC Tom Posted August 1, 2017 Posted August 1, 2017 ...Astro-Stars... This award brought to you by the Department of Redundancy Department at University of Maryland University College...
Captain_Quint Posted August 1, 2017 Posted August 1, 2017 Good news that Zay is doing well with the bubble screens. We'll probably go mostly to Sammy on those, but itll be a big part of the offense this year.
Jamie Muellers Ghost Posted August 1, 2017 Posted August 1, 2017 (edited) ASTRO-Stars.... Love it ! Hopefully I will not jinx him but Shorts has not dropped a pass in Camp yet. Logan Thomas seems to be making a move in Camp hopefully he keeps it going in pre-season. Edited August 1, 2017 by Jamie Muellers Ghost
BuffAlone Posted August 1, 2017 Posted August 1, 2017 (edited) Great stuff! Im wondering who starts at Wlb myself.Im hoping Rags comes along at the Mike and Brown goes out to play weak. May be our best configuration this year in base packages Edited August 1, 2017 by BuffAlone
ALF Posted August 1, 2017 Posted August 1, 2017 Great work Astro , you should be on staff with Buffalo News or GR55 Murph and Donald impressed with Logan Thomas is more good news.
C.Biscuit97 Posted August 1, 2017 Posted August 1, 2017 Great work Astro , you should be on staff with Buffalo News or GR55 Murph and Donald impressed with Logan Thomas is more good news. I don't know how good Astro is at food drafts or talking tennis. Your reports are some of the best this board offers.
yungmack Posted August 1, 2017 Posted August 1, 2017 This award brought to you by the Department of Redundancy Department at University of Maryland University College...What in the name of Georgie Tirebiter? A Firesign reference! Made my day.
thunderingsquid Posted August 1, 2017 Posted August 1, 2017 I really like the fact that the adults are in charge now, illustrated by the fact that Astro mentions "never seen this in camp before" four times. Great read, great observations. Mad props to you and your astute observation team!
WhitewalkerInPhilly Posted August 1, 2017 Posted August 1, 2017 I'm hearing a lot of "I've never seen this in camp before" and I like it. It's hard not to get excited about Zay. It sounds like he catches everything thrown his direction
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