Day 12: In-depth Offense report
Posted: Tue Apr 08, 2008 6:42 am
The day after a tough scrimmage can sometimes mean a rough practice. It was for the most part for the Florida offense on Monday, but the offense finished strong on the day. Here is a look on what went right and wrong during the day at each position.
Quarterbacks
Tim Tebow, Cam Newton, John Brantley
What I Liked: Newton took exception to a hard tackle and sack of John Brantley, his fellow quarterback. Jaye Howard actually lifted Brantley and slammed him, Newton retaliated...His technique wasn’t the best, but the fact he would take up for someone he is competing with for a job shows a lot about team chemistry and chemistry among that group in general...Brantley stood in there under some real heat during the last part of practice and took some major hits, it was good for Brantley that hasn’t seen contact all spring...Newton and Tebow directed their first attempts at the two minute drill remarkably well. Tebow, I believe finished three attempts with touchdowns in the drill.
What I Didn’t Like: Newton’s shot at Jaye Howard for the hard hit on Brantley was actually a swinging helmet. He didn’t do anything to hurt anyone as he didn’t exactly swing as hard as he could, but it was a stupid move in general...Except for the two minute drill, the quarterbacks were off today. All three threw into coverage and Brantley and Newton often threw behind or over receivers...Some of the coverage throws were quite bad and looked like desperation throws into double coverage.
Running Backs
Kestahn Moore, Brandon james, Mon Williams, Chris Rainey, Emmanuel Moody
What I Liked: It was a strong day for the running backs. All of them ran hard in running drills. Emmanuel Moody had his best day. He had three different plays where people in the crowd went wow or oooohhh, including the last play of the second two minute drill where he scampered for a 20 yard touchdown after making a great move on someone. It was definitely an eye opening day for Moody...Kestahn Moore probably had the second best day, he ran with authority all day long and looked really strong in the 9 on 7 drill earlier in practice.
What I Didn’t Like: I am not sure who and really didn’t even see it myself, but someone fumbled the ball because all of the backs were doing up downs on the far field after practice...Not really a whole lot else to say negative here.
Receivers - Tight Ends
Louis Murphy, Deonte Thompson, Cornelius Ingram, Aaron Hernandez
David Nelson, Carl Moore, Tate Casey, Justin Williams, Riley Cooper
What I Liked: Someone new stepped up today-Riley Cooper. He was a work horse on the day and made several nice catches short with tons of yards after the catch following...Justin Williams had a few nice catches including a couple of deep ones...Louis Murphy continues to be the real go to guy with Percy Harvin out, that was more of the same today...Cornelius Ingram seemed to be stretching the field a little more in this practice...Somehow the mid range crossing pattern was open all day today.
What I Didn’t Like: Too many times where the ball was up in the air and the receivers did not go to the ball and allowed defenders to make plays...Carl Moore left injured…
Offensive Line
LT Jason Watkins, LG James Wilson, C Maurkice Pouncey, RG Mike Pouncey, RT Marcus Gilbert
LT Kyle Newell, LG Carl Johnson, C Corey Hobbs, RG Jim Barrie
What I Liked: The starting offensive line played well...James Wilson was singled out a few times during the day for basically destroying his guy on the line of scrimmage. He told me after practice he had over 60 snaps today and moved from backup at LG to the starter by the end of practice...Jason Watkins was owning the best we had at defensive end in the half line drill today...Snaps were good from Maurkice including several that were quarterback under center.
What I Didn’t Like: The second team offensive line got owned for most of the day...It started off rough in the half line drill where they couldn’t hold out, then during almost every phase, they were really beaten bad...Jim Barrie has been pretty good and reliable all spring, but had a really rough day holding off Troy Epps and Terron Sanders most of the day...The line is just really beat up right now with Jim Tartt and Mo Hurt out, and Phil Trautwein not playing a lot of snaps at practice. Throw in Carl Johnson with his broken thumb where he must have been less effective today, it is real tough for these guys to get in a groove.
Odds and Ends...
Prospect Alert: Corey Addison, a 5-11, 190 pound safety from Jacksonville Jackson was in attendance for practice today.
Something new: About 2/3 of the way through practice, the offense was over on the far field working on offensive drills. In the middle of the drills, Coordinator Dan Mullen called the whole offense into a circle in a bit of a rage,. He was quite loud as he was yelling at his troops to focus on the far side. This went on for a few minutes and it was something quite new to hear from Mullen. I approached him after practice and he told me that the offense at that point in practice was just going through the motions and was really sloppy. They needed a little bit of a talk and afterwards had a great last part of practice. The two minute drill was definitely the best all spring.
Offensive Player of the Day:
Hands down in my book it was Emmanuel Moody. He made a couple of moves in the team portion of practice that were game changing long play type moves. Mullen told me afterwards he was really starting to catch on. I believe it.
Quarterbacks
Tim Tebow, Cam Newton, John Brantley
What I Liked: Newton took exception to a hard tackle and sack of John Brantley, his fellow quarterback. Jaye Howard actually lifted Brantley and slammed him, Newton retaliated...His technique wasn’t the best, but the fact he would take up for someone he is competing with for a job shows a lot about team chemistry and chemistry among that group in general...Brantley stood in there under some real heat during the last part of practice and took some major hits, it was good for Brantley that hasn’t seen contact all spring...Newton and Tebow directed their first attempts at the two minute drill remarkably well. Tebow, I believe finished three attempts with touchdowns in the drill.
What I Didn’t Like: Newton’s shot at Jaye Howard for the hard hit on Brantley was actually a swinging helmet. He didn’t do anything to hurt anyone as he didn’t exactly swing as hard as he could, but it was a stupid move in general...Except for the two minute drill, the quarterbacks were off today. All three threw into coverage and Brantley and Newton often threw behind or over receivers...Some of the coverage throws were quite bad and looked like desperation throws into double coverage.
Running Backs
Kestahn Moore, Brandon james, Mon Williams, Chris Rainey, Emmanuel Moody
What I Liked: It was a strong day for the running backs. All of them ran hard in running drills. Emmanuel Moody had his best day. He had three different plays where people in the crowd went wow or oooohhh, including the last play of the second two minute drill where he scampered for a 20 yard touchdown after making a great move on someone. It was definitely an eye opening day for Moody...Kestahn Moore probably had the second best day, he ran with authority all day long and looked really strong in the 9 on 7 drill earlier in practice.
What I Didn’t Like: I am not sure who and really didn’t even see it myself, but someone fumbled the ball because all of the backs were doing up downs on the far field after practice...Not really a whole lot else to say negative here.
Receivers - Tight Ends
Louis Murphy, Deonte Thompson, Cornelius Ingram, Aaron Hernandez
David Nelson, Carl Moore, Tate Casey, Justin Williams, Riley Cooper
What I Liked: Someone new stepped up today-Riley Cooper. He was a work horse on the day and made several nice catches short with tons of yards after the catch following...Justin Williams had a few nice catches including a couple of deep ones...Louis Murphy continues to be the real go to guy with Percy Harvin out, that was more of the same today...Cornelius Ingram seemed to be stretching the field a little more in this practice...Somehow the mid range crossing pattern was open all day today.
What I Didn’t Like: Too many times where the ball was up in the air and the receivers did not go to the ball and allowed defenders to make plays...Carl Moore left injured…
Offensive Line
LT Jason Watkins, LG James Wilson, C Maurkice Pouncey, RG Mike Pouncey, RT Marcus Gilbert
LT Kyle Newell, LG Carl Johnson, C Corey Hobbs, RG Jim Barrie
What I Liked: The starting offensive line played well...James Wilson was singled out a few times during the day for basically destroying his guy on the line of scrimmage. He told me after practice he had over 60 snaps today and moved from backup at LG to the starter by the end of practice...Jason Watkins was owning the best we had at defensive end in the half line drill today...Snaps were good from Maurkice including several that were quarterback under center.
What I Didn’t Like: The second team offensive line got owned for most of the day...It started off rough in the half line drill where they couldn’t hold out, then during almost every phase, they were really beaten bad...Jim Barrie has been pretty good and reliable all spring, but had a really rough day holding off Troy Epps and Terron Sanders most of the day...The line is just really beat up right now with Jim Tartt and Mo Hurt out, and Phil Trautwein not playing a lot of snaps at practice. Throw in Carl Johnson with his broken thumb where he must have been less effective today, it is real tough for these guys to get in a groove.
Odds and Ends...
Prospect Alert: Corey Addison, a 5-11, 190 pound safety from Jacksonville Jackson was in attendance for practice today.
Something new: About 2/3 of the way through practice, the offense was over on the far field working on offensive drills. In the middle of the drills, Coordinator Dan Mullen called the whole offense into a circle in a bit of a rage,. He was quite loud as he was yelling at his troops to focus on the far side. This went on for a few minutes and it was something quite new to hear from Mullen. I approached him after practice and he told me that the offense at that point in practice was just going through the motions and was really sloppy. They needed a little bit of a talk and afterwards had a great last part of practice. The two minute drill was definitely the best all spring.
Offensive Player of the Day:
Hands down in my book it was Emmanuel Moody. He made a couple of moves in the team portion of practice that were game changing long play type moves. Mullen told me afterwards he was really starting to catch on. I believe it.