Practice was open to the media today for the fourth time this month. Here are a few quick tidbits:
• No significant injuries seen. C.J. Prosise was riding the stationary bike hard.
• Freshman tight end Aliz'e Jones did not partake in tempo, but he was in the passing drills and made a couple of fine grabs in red-zone one-on-one situations, a good sign that he is past the neck injury Junior TE Durham Smythe was dressed to practice but did not partake in the passing drills.
• A freshman that I was not expecting to play but seems to be making some headway is RB Josh Adams, who had a 60-plus TD run on Saturday. He's been taking the majority of snaps with the 2s, behind Tarean Folston.
• The front line base on defense remained Isaac Rochell and Romeo Okwara at end, with Sheldon Day and Daniel Cage in the interior. The top LB corps has Schmidt, Smith and Onwualu in the base, and Avery Sebastian remains the top strong safety, with Max Redfield at free. (Matthias Farley is behind Redfield). The corners of course are KeiVarae Russell and Cole Luke.
• It was "dime day" on defense, with Drue Tranquill in that role. It appears freshman Shaun Crawford is taking on the starting nickel role because of his coverage skills.
• Justin Yoon continues to be very impressive at kicker. He had a line drive 46-yard field goal that still hit the back of the net about 10 yards past the goal posts. Accuracy has been flawless.
• Tyler Newsome continues to have jaw-dropping 55- and 60-yard punts with excellent hang time — but he does seem to shank or mis-hit every third punt or so. Consistency is going to be the prime issue there.
• Will Fuller and C.J. Sanders are the top two punt return men. Sanders misjudged one that ended up going over his head.
• End-game situations were run in the final 15 minutes or so of practice. The first pass saw a bullet pass by Zaire go through Chris Brown's hands and ricochet to Max Redfield, who took it back for a pick 6 (think Arizona State last year when a pass went through Robinson's hands). Brian Kelly noted to Redfield that in an end-game situation, he needs to fall to the ground so as not to risk a fumble and possibly let the offense get the ball back.
• Second end-game ended with a couple of touch sacks on Zaire, one of them by a blitzing Russell.
• The third with Kizer versus the 2s led to Yoon's aforementioned 46-yard field goal.
• On the next one from the offense 40, Brown made a sensation 12-yard catch, and then on 4th-and-5 from the defense 43, a quick slant from Zaire to Will Fuller resulted in an inside cut by Fuller and a touchdown.
• The final series with the 2s on both sides ended with the defense holding after Kizer completed a 15-yarder to Robinson and eight yards to Nic Weishar.
• No significant injuries seen. C.J. Prosise was riding the stationary bike hard.
• Freshman tight end Aliz'e Jones did not partake in tempo, but he was in the passing drills and made a couple of fine grabs in red-zone one-on-one situations, a good sign that he is past the neck injury Junior TE Durham Smythe was dressed to practice but did not partake in the passing drills.
• A freshman that I was not expecting to play but seems to be making some headway is RB Josh Adams, who had a 60-plus TD run on Saturday. He's been taking the majority of snaps with the 2s, behind Tarean Folston.
• The front line base on defense remained Isaac Rochell and Romeo Okwara at end, with Sheldon Day and Daniel Cage in the interior. The top LB corps has Schmidt, Smith and Onwualu in the base, and Avery Sebastian remains the top strong safety, with Max Redfield at free. (Matthias Farley is behind Redfield). The corners of course are KeiVarae Russell and Cole Luke.
• It was "dime day" on defense, with Drue Tranquill in that role. It appears freshman Shaun Crawford is taking on the starting nickel role because of his coverage skills.
• Justin Yoon continues to be very impressive at kicker. He had a line drive 46-yard field goal that still hit the back of the net about 10 yards past the goal posts. Accuracy has been flawless.
• Tyler Newsome continues to have jaw-dropping 55- and 60-yard punts with excellent hang time — but he does seem to shank or mis-hit every third punt or so. Consistency is going to be the prime issue there.
• Will Fuller and C.J. Sanders are the top two punt return men. Sanders misjudged one that ended up going over his head.
• End-game situations were run in the final 15 minutes or so of practice. The first pass saw a bullet pass by Zaire go through Chris Brown's hands and ricochet to Max Redfield, who took it back for a pick 6 (think Arizona State last year when a pass went through Robinson's hands). Brian Kelly noted to Redfield that in an end-game situation, he needs to fall to the ground so as not to risk a fumble and possibly let the offense get the ball back.
• Second end-game ended with a couple of touch sacks on Zaire, one of them by a blitzing Russell.
• The third with Kizer versus the 2s led to Yoon's aforementioned 46-yard field goal.
• On the next one from the offense 40, Brown made a sensation 12-yard catch, and then on 4th-and-5 from the defense 43, a quick slant from Zaire to Will Fuller resulted in an inside cut by Fuller and a touchdown.
• The final series with the 2s on both sides ended with the defense holding after Kizer completed a 15-yarder to Robinson and eight yards to Nic Weishar.
