- Special teams worked on punts & FG kicking today. Kickers were working from 30 yards & looked good, albeit it with no pressure.
- Oklahoma drill kicked off practice today. Omoregie Uzzi pancaked his man but overall things were pretty even between offense & defense.
- 3 vs. 2 drill: 2 A-backs & a QB versus a CB & safety. Drill was mainly focused on the A-back load blocking the CB while the other A-back took the pitch & was covered by the safety. The ball carrier & safety were going about 75%. No one gave true freshman Isaiah Johnson the message. After a very good practice Wednesday, the Sandy Creek product continued to hit, this time decleating Roddy Jones with a vicious forearm shiver to the chest. Jones, who wasn't expecting the blow as the drill wasn't designed for him to get hit, was knocked off his feet & onto his back, where he was clearly dazed for a few seconds. Good old slobberknocker. Roddy was fine & a brief word from Coach Kelly clarified things for Johnson but after the last two practices we're sure of one thing: if you're an offensive player & Johnson is around you better keep your head on a swivel because he's looking to hit somebody.
- 1 vs. 1 passing drills were ragged today with missed reads, missed routes & a few drops. QB accuracy continues to be an issue.
- Anthony Allen had good energy & looked good.
- 11 vs. 11 scrimmage: a good session with some big plays on both sides of the ball. Groh & the defensive coaches continue to preach taking the ball away & this is a real focus for us on defense. Jay Finch is still learning the center position so there were some snap issues between Finch & Sims & Luallen. Sean Bedford continues to just fire off the ball & move people. T.J. Barnes back to having his pads high & was being moved around today. Egbuniwe & A.T. Barnes both chased plays down from the backside. Albert Rocker had a good day today, breaking up a pass behind the line & recording a tackle for loss. First little skirmish of the spring today as Jefferson & A-back Robbie Godhigh got tangled up. No big deal. What was great to see was that the skirmish obviously motivated both guys as on the next play Jefferson made a huge tackle for loss. The very next play Godhigh dropped a huge block on the CB on the triple option & Luallen went the distance. Later on Godhigh took a nice pitch from Luallen for a long gain. A good day for the RS freshman & we expect him to contribute this Fall. Great to see guys react like this. Speaking of Luallen he looked better today with two long runs from scrimmage after good option reads. Not to be outdone, Tevin later juked Cross on the option & scampered the distance for a long TD. Washington is really making good reads right now & holding the ball until the very last second on the pitch, forcing the defender to commit. David Sims also had a long run today & of the three QB's his wheels are certainly the best. The player of the day today was Luke Cox. Talk about running hard. You need an army or a horse tranquilizer to bring this guy down. He must have averaged 8 yards after contact today. Just running roughshod over people. On one play he CARRIED both Jefferson & Tarrant about 7 yards after contact. Carried them! Cox is running with purpose & punishing people right now. Side note: I'm curious to see if Cox can follow in his brother's footsteps & play fullback in the NFL. He's really a true FB & has always been miscast in this offense. We LOVE the fact he stayed at Tech & opted to win as a man playing out of position but I think he has a chance to play in the NFL. He certainly does if he keeps running like he has this spring.
- 7 vs. 7 passing skeleton: defense worked on pattern reading & rerouting WR's. Very cool to watch & we're still working on a post about this. Hill had a great over-the-shoulder grab from Tevin while both Marcus Wright & Jeremy Moore made nice catches, Moore climbing the ladder to snare a high Luallen ball for a great grab. A fair bit of work from the shotgun today (20%). Jemea Thomas, Richardson & Tarrant all had picks during this drill. We can't help but be super-impressed with Thomas as he's always around the ball & making plays. He's an emerging force.
- With the offense showing a 1 back/2 TE set for the defense, Daniel McKayhan made a terrific catch on a long post route going over his shoulder to fingertip a TD. No matter what the formation, a great play is a great play & McKayhan made one on that catch.
- A few selected down & distance plays to end practice, the highlight of which was a screen to Luke Cox who was promptly whacked by the sizable A.T. Barnes. You guessed it, Barnes bounced off Cox who continued to rumble downfield.
Overall a good practice for the Jackets, particularly with the heat. They continue to improve & that's the key to Spring ball.....
Landing Gainesville LB A.J. Johnson would be huge. In the past Georgia has dominated recruiting at Gainseville, and is very close to The Big Red's coaching staff.
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