M&B09's Practice Observations

[MAIZEandBLUE09]

Just got back from the practice, and then lunch, and have some pretty interesting things to report. (I'm shocked they showed us as much as they did). Also - no cameras or phones were allowed out at the practice so I couldn't get any pictures.

- Gardner played 0 snaps at QB. There were a few drills in which Gardner was doing some stuff with the QB's but in every actual scrimmage or live situations Gardner lined up as a #1 WR. The standard lineup that we saw most often was Gardner, Dileo and Gallon.

-Everything you've heard about Gardner is true. The dude looks like someone built an EA sports build-a-player and made the perfect WR. Obviously we all know what Gardner looks like but when he was running down field grabbing things it just looked natural. Based on this one practice I'd predict he's going to play WR this year - and a lot of it. And only be used as a QB in rare situations or in the case that Denard goes down.

-Roundtree was in some of the plays but was fairly limited. He worked out in about 50% of the stuff today.

-Bellomy was the #2 QB in every situation. He ran with the 2's the entire afternoon and was actually pretty decent looking. He had a really nice pass to TE Funchess. I wouldn't be shocked if the Gardner to WR isn't a permanent switch and the QB competition next year is between Bellomy and Morris.

-Funchess is a huge target. He looked great and played with both the 1's and the 2's. He's still not very big (weight wise) so I can't imagine he'll be any good in power situations or blocking. He looks more like a huge WR than a TE. We're going to see him a lot this year.

-Dline - for most of the day the starting D-line was actually Roh, Washington, Campbell, & Black. Which was a little shocking. Washington and Campbell look huge in the middle; which may be part of the reason they slick Black back out to DE. Based on what everyone is saying though I don't think that's quite settled and could still very well be a different lineup come the Alabama game.

-A funny thing they were doing was taking this golf cart with speakers and playing the Alabama fight song at full blast right behind the QB's while they were running drills. After the Alabama fight song it would play sweet home Alabama. Then it would repeat. Here's a picture from a youtube video of the strange cart.

-As far as the RB's - Smith and Hayes actually got most of the carries in any game-type situations. Smith made sense - but we Hayes in there was a little surprising. I could have missed it but I didn't see rawls or toussaint in there at all; although they were both practicing.

-Hopkins wasn't running with the #1 team as a FB. He was with the #2's. I didn't know the player who was running with the ones by number and since they didn't put the names on the jersey's I don't know. I did see Hopkins limping a bit coming off the field. That could be the reason or that could just be him getting a stinger on the play - who knows.

-The kicking game actually looked mediocre at best. The punting looked much improved from everyone but the field goal kickers were like 2 for 6 in this one drill they were running. Certainly not great. But I'm guessing they should all be at least OK this year again since everyone returns. There was no clear #1 punter.

-The kick returners were Dileo and Gallon.

And that's about all I can remember.

 

[Michlady]

HOke had high praise for bellomy the other day

 

[Michchamp]

M&B... you did something right.

 

[byco42]

Super-strong synopsis, MB09. Thanks.

 

[TheVictors]

yep, great Notes -- thanks!

Go Blue!

 

[tinselwolverine]

Did you get to blow Kovacs a kiss?

 

[MAIZEandBLUE09]

Did you get to blow Kovacs a kiss?

No, but I saw his beady little face out there.

 

[biggunsbob]

Thanks for posting this update!!!!!

 

[wheels002]

Thanks for posting. I cant believe in 7 days at 11 min from right now its kickoff time

 

[TheVictors]

7 days from now will be 1st Qtr from JerryDome!!!

 

[tinselwolverine]

I've heard locals refer to it as Jerry World.

 

[MAIZEandBLUE09]

The new countdown to kickoff shows the practice I was at, not too much shown but it includes a little roundtree, a little bellomy and the stupid sound cart guy. Gardner is not shown at all,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=KHo0k4DvYVs

 

[TheVictors]

I have to say, I read MGoBlog's recap last night ...quite similar to your, M&B

I prefer JerryDome a la ThunderDome, because I'm a huge fan of the whole Mad Max catalog as well as Tina Turner.

 

[MAIZEandBLUE09]

I have to say, I read MGoBlog's recap last night ...quite similar to your, M&B

I prefer JerryDome a la ThunderDome, because I'm a huge fan of the whole Mad Max catalog as well as Tina Turner.

Wouldn't it be more odd if they weren't similar? We were watching the same game...

 

[TheVictors]

I don't care, but it would be less suspect if there weren't direct phrases lifted from MGoBlog and the same exact order of comments.

 

[MAIZEandBLUE09]

I don't care, but it would be less suspect if there weren't direct phrases lifted from MGoBlog and the same exact order of comments.

I honestly hadn't even read the MGoblog post. In fact, looking at it the only thing I can find that crosses paths is talking about Gardner first. The rest is nothing like mine. And like I said about the rest - obviously we're going to address some of the same things, we watched the same practice.

 

[michdad1]

I honestly hadn't even read the MGoblog post. In fact, looking at it the only thing I can find that crosses paths is talking about Gardner first. The rest is nothing like mine. And like I said about the rest - obviously we're going to address some of the same things, we watched the same practice.

I thought the exact same thing as Vic when I read both as well. Suspect to me too, but my angle was that M&B 09 was Brian?

 

[TheVictors]

I honestly hadn't even read the MGoblog post. In fact, looking at it the only thing I can find that crosses paths is talking about Gardner first. The rest is nothing like mine. And like I said about the rest - obviously we're going to address some of the same things, we watched the same practice.

Rawls and Funchess



Brian Cook, eh...?

 

[MAIZEandBLUE09]

Rawls and Funchess



Brian Cook, eh...?

What about them?

This is what Mgoblog said, "No Rawls. No idea why. They ran some passing stuff with Justice Hayes that seemed to work pretty well, and did the Vincent Smith throwback screen that always works."

This is what I said, "As far as the RB's - Smith and Hayes actually got most of the carries in any game-type situations. Smith made sense - but we Hayes in there was a little surprising. I could have missed it but I didn't see rawls or toussaint in there at all; although they were both practicing."

This is what he said about Funchess, "Devin Funchess. As first impressions go… wow. He is lanky and doesn't look like he'll be much use as a blocker early, but man is that guy a big target. Looks all of 6'5" and has freaky long arms. He was the only TE to get targeted in their kind-of-actually-playing segment; he caught a touchdown on a corner route (it got raked out but after the catch was secured) and was targeted on a late-release wheel route. If he can catch, he is going to crush Mandich's TE receiving record. "


This is what I said, - "Funchess is a huge target. He looked great and played with both the 1's and the 2's. He's still not very big (weight wise) so I can't imagine he'll be any good in power situations or blocking. He looks more like a huge WR than a TE. We're going to see him a lot this year."

The ONLY thing I can find that is remotely similar, outside of talking about the same players, is that I said, "Funchess is a huge target & I can't imagine he'll be any good in power situations or blocking" and Mgoblog said, "doesn't look like he'll be much use as a blcoker early & but the man is a big target"

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It's a similar observation and not even remotely worded the same way or even in the same order. I actually find it quite annoying that I put something like this up and spend the time to do it and then I get accused of stealing it. I mention a lot more than Mgoblog goes into and he mentions things I didn't even notice (Ash, Mealer, Ross). I didn't take anything from Mogoblog and I'd appreciate if you just believed me.

 

[Diggler Cometh]

Just because you're a brownie doesn't mean you can scout. That's why you stole the info as your own. So drive your civic off a cliff asshole.