Last year about this time I went to watch a practice and came away thinking we looked really good, then went 3-9? So, let's just say I'm "guardedly optimistic".
Practice began with positional drills then a group scrimmage 1s vs 1's, 2's vs 2's and so on, then they went back to positional drills and rotated back and forth at least 4 times.
Observations: kickers: vedkik (sic) has a much stronger leg than cole Phillips. Cole is a pretty thick kicker and bigger than I thought he'd be. He is accurate from inside 40 yards, but the other guy (our punter) just booms it. I'd give the edge to Vedvik (sic). Shane McDonough will never see the field as I can punt better than him and that ain't saying much.
QB: Litton looked solid and made sharp passes. The surprise to me was Green. In my opinion he will be red shirted but has made a case for 2nd string. The kid has good size, very poised and has a nice arm. While I'd love to see Gaines be the guy due to his athleticism I just don't think he's a QB. To me, Green looks better than Gaines and has the "it" factor. Jackson White will never see the field.
WR: we have upgraded big time with Brady, Willie Johnson and Williams. I don't agree that Matthews should be starting over Gator Green (had a great day), Owens or Foster.
RB: Tyler King's first touch was a sweep left with no where to go so he cut back and went the distance. He and Trey R are home run threats that hit the hole much faster than Davis or Pittman. Anderson looks in great shape but wore a non contact jersey. Why Davis is getting 1st team reps is beyond me?? He looks much smaller than last year, but the speed looked the same.
OL: really hard to tell. Looked OK. #57 (Wale?) is massive and reminded me of a poor mans Buck Manning (not as tall).
DL: Jason Smith played better than usual. Harris always looks the part but I never see him actually make a play. Not convinced it's smart to move Bee inside. Too tall. He would be unreal this year at DE and I think he's wasted inside.
LB: major upgrade. Young, Artis and Moody are impressive. Yulee running with the 3rd team, for now. Yulee has a great knack of squirting into the backfield but I saw him whiff the RB three times. However, this was not a full contact scrimmage so some of that may be him holding back. He and Pittman got into it but made up quickly. Cobb has put on a few much needed pounds and looks much better.
DB: nothing stood out to me. Looked pretty good.Drayton is one to watch for next year. Sapp is kind of a head case but I'll tip my hat to his energy.
Scheme: I did see some wide receivers go in motion and get tossed the ball on a sweep a few times.
Depth: might be the deepest team we've had in a while. Not saying we have any future NFL draft picks but there isn't much of a drop off from the 1's and 2's for the most part. Other than Litton and Brady if we have some injuries I think we will be ok. Music played the entire practice and the weather was mid 70's. very comfortable and I saw about 10-15 people in attendance. Overall, I think we are a better team than last year. Will we go to a bowl? Boy, I just don't know.......
