My First and Last Practice

So, I've been away a lot lately. Good for me personally but bad for the blog. But today made a trip to Westwood to see my first practice of the season. It was the very last practice of the season and now the team heads into seclusion to prepare for the opener.

Nothing special happened. The team wasn't in full pads and there wasn't any major injuries. I'll have thoughts on it later, but my first impression is that this offense needs a lot of work. They have a very long way to go if they want to compete with Tennessee in a week and half. In the 7-on-7 and 11-0n-11 drills the QBs made a lot of bad throws. The running game wasn't good mainly because there were no holes made by the O-line. Nothing surprising if you've been following the team all camp but I confirmed it with my own eyes today.

Michael Norris had a really good day. Made some nice plays, downed a punt inside the ten, had a nifty interception in the end zone where he took the ball almost literally out of Marcus Everett's hands. That kid has a lot of heart and he plays really intense. I always think he looks good in practice. It is just too bad that he doesn't have the size or skill to match.

On a separate note, Frank Gantz Jr (the special teams coach) is a riot. He yells and gets in the face of his players. I could hear him all the way across the field. He was giving the kickers grief during the last set of drills and I couldn't help but chuckle.

I also noticed that this staff curses a lot more than the last one. They are much more vocal and don't tolerate mistakes. I like it.