stevewin Posted August 1, 2006 Share Posted August 1, 2006 Went to the camp at Fisher for the first time today. At first I was kind of bummed that there wasn't the closeness/intimacy of the old Fredonia camps - but it wasn't too bad sitting in the stands on this day - a lot of action took place in front of us. First of all, the thing that stood out for me, my Dad, and my brother was that JP seemed to do great on 7-on-7, but when it came to 11-on-11 he simply didn't perform very well with a rush in his face (at one point screaming out "!@#$!!!" after not even getting a pass off, which prompted a few "Did he say what I thought he said??" comments from the people in the stands around us). He put a couple throws right in the dirt w/ pressure on him. Losman throws a beautiful ball - too bad you don't get points for playing catch. You could see he was also getting down on himself after mistakes - I just kept hoping he would stop doing that - I just don't think that is something that inspires teammates. Like it or not, our impression was that Holcomb did better w/ 11-on-11 and pressure on him - after a slow start in which he almost got a couple intercepted in a row. At one point Holcomb made two nice consecutive passes to Aiken to opposite sides of the field - at which point I said jokingly to my brother - "They both just cemented starting positions" One of the Aiken passes was at the expense of Clements - prompting a few people in the crowd to yell "Cmon Nate!!!!: They seemed to be running a lot of flares on offense - one time they set up a nice inside WR screen to Roscoe but he dropped it Pennington was out in front of that play and he surprised me both with his size and his mobility when I watched him. Roscoe did catch a pass in the flat w/ a DB just a couple yards from him having him totally lined up - and when Roscoe landed he a put a move on the DB that left his jock strap solidly on the ground (think it was King) and ran right past him. Pretty impressive stuff. The comment of the day came from a young kid maybe 6 or 7 who said earnestly to his Dad regarding Parrish "Won't he get killed if he gets tackled?" Matt Morgan seemed to be having a tough time in the drills when I saw him. I did hear the D-line coach yell out McCargo's name a couple times w/ positive comments. Kyle Williams just looks like a load when he is in there. I did notice Sape of all people making his presence known a few times. I don't remember noticing Tripplet or Schoebel at all. Denney stopped one running play in the backfield cold. There was some real good hitting - guys were lowering their shoulders and really getting some pops in. At one point they broke into units and April put on a headphone which was on a speaker and went over some situations related to where you catch a kickoff and what happens / what you can do (ie., if you catch a kick w/ one foot in and one foot out of the endzone, both feet on the end zone line, catch it outside the endzone but recover inside etc. etc.). While interesting - I found it kind of odd they would be going over that in that way using precious on-field practice time - seemed like something they could go over in meetings (and which most should have learned in pop warner) - it almost seemed to me it was something done to kind of put on a show for the crowd. They ran a ST drill in front of us for a while where one guy starts with his back turned and the other guy at the whistle tries to blow by him to reach a tackling dummy. I kept thinking the whole time that this is the drill where guys on the bubble could make the team or get cut. There's nothing like a little mano-a-mano bashing to see what someone's made of. You could see some guys relished the contact and some guys not so much. April was doing a lot of hard coaching for almost every pair of players. One big thing we noticed was how crisp the practice seemed to be. One of the best things I saw was Fewell screaming after every dead ball for the defense to run back to get ready for the next play. I really liked his temperment and the way he was getting on the guys to hustle around the field. During one of the D-line drills they were also constantly be screamed at to "Finish the play!" - to keep going and not let up until after the play was over. The practice seemed to be meticulously planned - with seamless (fast) movement from individual units, to team drills, back to individual units etc. A bunch of players signed at the end. Willis was signing at the Bills promotion office shed or whatever that is at midfield - and the commoners lined up along the fence next to it were screaming for him to sign and he was just laughing saying "No Man - then I got to sign for all of you!" - pointing to the long line along the fence - finally he came over and said "I'll sign 10" - and counted them off while he was smiling - he seems like a nice guy. BTW - after practice Willis ran a couple extra sprints the width of the field w/ Reyes, Gandy and another O-lineman. He was urging them on - I have to admit, I liked what I saw of him today - personality and effort/focus - I was impressed. He was talking to other guys and seemed to be really focused and motivated. Spikes stayed out with a few other guys to go over what looked like positional things with what I assume to be the linbackers coach (couldn't tell who the other guys were because the had their jerseys/pads off and didn't recognize them). Losman fumbled a few snaps during the 11-11 drills - so he stayed and took some snaps from #73 Geisinger after practice. Rober Royal was absolutely the most friendly, comfortable, personable player I have ever seen while signing at the fence. A real great guy. He's now one of my favorites - a lot taller and leaner than I imagined he would be. As a final note - have to say that I'm not a big fan of the Jauron safari hat - not on him anyway. A few other coaches have taken up that fashion trend - I was thinking they should be selling theose things at the Merchandise-tent-you-are-required-to-walk-through-in-order-to-enter-or-leave-the-practice-grounds - it could become the next big thing - the Terrible Hat perhaps.. One last side note - many of the players when they took their pads off had undershirts with 'Wease' across the chest. I asked my brother if maybe it was some kind of promotion w/ Brother Wease (is he still around/alive?). When asked one of the players signing said he had no idea what it meant - they just gave it to him to wear and he put it on... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dibs Posted August 1, 2006 Share Posted August 1, 2006 Good job. Thanks for that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eball Posted August 1, 2006 Share Posted August 1, 2006 Thanks for the report, man. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SACKMARINO Posted August 1, 2006 Share Posted August 1, 2006 Great Report! thank you! When asked one of the players signing said he had no idea what it meant - they just gave it to him to wear and he put it on... 732580[/snapback] WCMF 96.5 has a tshirt every year that the bills wear at camp, they usually have a motivational saying on them, a couple years ago it said I BILLEVE., another year it said PLAYOFF BOUND, etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mead107 Posted August 1, 2006 Share Posted August 1, 2006 all of you that report back are doing a very good job , thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ray Posted August 1, 2006 Share Posted August 1, 2006 Thanks for the update. JP has got to evolve it sounds like. I think everyone is rooting hard for him, but the idea of watching him collapse in the pocket and throw wounded ducks when he's pressured is really depressing. I don't care about arm strength. It is about the 3rd or 4th criteria when evaluating a QB. Accuracy and decision making are more important and sorry to say it folks but Holcomb is lengths ahead in those categories. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluenews Posted August 1, 2006 Share Posted August 1, 2006 As a final note - have to say that I'm not a big fan of the Jauron safari hat - not on him anyway. A few other coaches have taken up that fashion trend - I was thinking they should be selling theose things at the Merchandise-tent-you-are-required-to-walk-through-in-order-to-enter-or-leave-the-practice-grounds - it could become the next big thing - the Terrible Hat perhaps.. 732580[/snapback] I also hate the Safari look......reminds me of The Flying Nun Thanks for the points!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike32282 Posted August 1, 2006 Share Posted August 1, 2006 Thanks for the report! Nice job! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rico Posted August 1, 2006 Share Posted August 1, 2006 Thanks... how did Coy Wire look? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Gross Posted August 1, 2006 Share Posted August 1, 2006 Great Report! thank you!WCMF 96.5 has a tshirt every year that the bills wear at camp, they usually have a motivational saying on them, a couple years ago it said I BILLEVE., another year it said PLAYOFF BOUND, etc. 732610[/snapback] Wease does his show from camp every year for the full duration. Gets players herded in to be interviewed. Said interviews tend to be a little atypical...not a lot about football, more about the players... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevewin Posted August 1, 2006 Author Share Posted August 1, 2006 Thanks... how did Coy Wire look? 732874[/snapback] I will admit - during the ST 1-1 drill he did seem to know what he was doing re: positioning and movement to keep his man off the dummy (the blocking dummy that is...). He still sux though... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rico Posted August 1, 2006 Share Posted August 1, 2006 He still sux though... 733211[/snapback] That's what I wanted to hear! COME ON, DONTE! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
K-gunner Posted August 2, 2006 Share Posted August 2, 2006 Thanks for that. Nice to hear some positives on Kyle Williams..i think the Bills stole one there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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