Practice (Aug. 11) observations

[PonyPride]

• Rain throughout the Dallas area forced Saturday's practice to be moved over to the indoor practice facility at Highland Park High School. It was nice to be out of the rain, but it was hot and steamy inside.
• Injured players included RB Xavier Jones, who was not dressed and wore a brace on his right knee. Head coach Sonny Dykes said after practice that he anticipates Jones will be back, or at least begin working his way back into the rotation, next week. The list of injured players also includes T Levon Livingston, LB Kyran Mitchell , DL Jake Hall and CB Eric Sutton. Mitchell and Sutton also are expected back soon.
• First-team offensive line had LT Chad Pursley and LG Nick Natour, RG Nick Dennis and RT Bryce Wilds. Two potential wild cards: Harrison Barton got some reps with the first team at center, and Larry Hughes (6-6, 310), who just transferred to SMU from Kansas, is expected to challenge for time at tackle, perhaps early. When he got on the field Saturday, Hughes worked on the right side.
• First-team defensive looked the same: Tyeson Neals and Delontae Scott at defensive end, with Pono Davis and Demerick Gary inside. But one player who is demanding attention is DE Noah Westerfield, the 6-4, 250-pound graduate transfer from Cal who has a nice combination of size and speed and had a few would-be sacks (effectively tagging the QB rather than hitting) in team (11 on 11) drills.
• The secondary looks different — better — if only for a considerable influx of talent, and veteran talent. In addition to the returning players, the Mustangs have added four veteran players who have transferred in: CB Jourdan Blake (6-0, 190) from Baylor, S Patrick Nelson (6-1, 205) from Illinois, S Cole Sterns (5-11, 185) from Northern Arizona and CB Robert Hayes (6-0, 190) from Coffeyville CC, each of whom has earned praise from coaches and teammates. Sterns, in particular, broke up several passes during team scrimmage drills, including one one which he chased WR Reggie Roberson on a deep route down the left side and dove to tip away a long pass from QB Austin Upshaw.
• Freshman LB JC Rispress had a good day running with the second-team defense, making a few nice open-field tackles when he was the last guy between the ball carrier and miles of open space behind him. He also clearly buys into the coaching mantra of "play to the whistle" — on one play, as the defense closed in on the running back, Rispress kept ripping at the ball, eventually prying it loose before the play was blown dead.
• Whether the tight ends will be used more as passing targets remains to be seen, but freshman TE Ben Redding is trying to show that he should be on the receiving end of some passes. Redding had several nice catches Saturday, including a couple during team drills on which he twisted his body to reach behind his body on crossing routes and was able to pull them in without breaking stride. On the other hand, he also lost his footing a couple of times when he had room to run, but he did show the ability to make the catch first.
• CB Jordan Wyatt is back and says he's ready to go, and Dykes talked about how valuable it is to get someone like Wyatt back, not just because of his ability but also because of the experience and intelligence he brings to the secondary. That said, the coaches clearly are working him back in as he works his way back from knee surgery. It's hard to believe he wouldn't start the minute he can, but his minutes/plays were monitored Saturday, a practice that presumably will continue. One of his nicer plays came when he broke up a pass from QB Ben Hicks to WR Reggie Roberson ... despite the fact that Roberson was pulling on Wyatt's left arm the whole time.
• When walk-on freshman QB Derek Green joined the Mustangs, it was easy for PonyFans to envision a second version of his dad, former Washington Redskins/St. Louis Rams/Kansas City Chiefs/Miami Dolphins QB Trent Green. The younger Green looks the part, at 6-3, 200, and not surprisingly, he has a good arm, a trait that isn't a shock for a player who grew up with an NFL quarterback (and as the brother of another Div. I passer, Northwestern QB T.J. Green. But Trent Green was a very mobile quarterback, a trait inherited by his son, who showed the ability to tuck the ball and take off, breaking a couple of long runs in the process. He also showed nice touch on intermediate and deep passes, one of which he rainbowed over CB Justin Guy-Robinson into the hands of WR Joshua Shelmire. Guy-Robinson was able to recover and swat the ball away, but the pass was one that not many freshman quarterbacks make.
• In the indoor facility where he played in high school, K Will Moore split a couple of long field goals that were somewhere in the range of 40 yards (it was hard to get an exact line of scrimmage from the media's vantage point at the opposite end of the field). K Kevin Robledo connected on two long kicks from roughly the same range.
• The previous coaching staff spoke highly of then-true freshman WR Tyler Page, talking about the ability of the former high school quarterback to learn a new position, especially in his first year after a significant knee injury. Page looks more comfortable running routes now, and has improved his ability to adjust his body when going up for the pass to shield the ball away from defenders.
• Austin Upshaw and William Brown split backup QB reps, and it's too early to say whether either has stepped forward as Ben Hicks' backup.
• While backed up to about his own 10-yard line, Brown watched an errant snap sail over his head. Since it happened during live team drills, the scramble was on for the bouncing ball. After a few seconds, most gave up chase. Brown stayed after it, but was run over by backup LB Gerrit Choate. If that name sounds familiar, it should. Choate, who transferred to SMU from Utah, is the son of SMU's all-time leader in tackles, Putt Choate.
• One way in which Brown looks different than he did in the spring: there were days during spring workouts when it looked like Brown wanted to throw every pass at 100 miles per hour — a habit that clearly has been addressed as he is now showing a willingness, at times, to take a few MPH off his fastball.
• With Jones sidelined, RB Ke'Mon Freeman got the bulk of the carries. Freshman TaMerick Williams also got some work, and showed good strength running between the tackles.

[JasonB]

Thanks for the report! The interview is great as well...

WR - sounds like we aren't going to be as desperate as originally thought because of the transfers.
RB - as good as last year or better with the added strength
QB - at least as good as last year
OL - Lost a great in Evan Brown, but outside of that more experience and depth across the board, with better size and strength. I think this is going to be an upgrade.
DL - I realize we graduated a lot with Lawler, Mixon, and some tackles. But Scott in the spring was way ahead of where he was, and Westerfield sounds like he is going to soften the loss of Lawler. Inside, some of the younger players are starting to mature and come into their own. I think we are going to end up being better than we were last year because of the depth and strength.
LB - we are going to be miles better. Or maybe Moore better.
CB - we are going to be way better and deeper.
S - we are going to be way better and deeper.

On top of that, we actually have coaches instead of just recruiters on defense. Reading things about a ton of players going to the ball in itself is a huge change.

And I love hearing Dykes say that we have to be able to run the ball when everyone knows it is coming. That is something we were never able to do under Morris. We didn't have the strength.

I think we are going to see massive improvement defensively, and this is going to be a much better team overall than we were last year as long as Hicks stays healthy.

I think we are going to be a good team in the league. Which means we beat UNT, Navy at home, HBU, Tulane, Cincy, Tulsa, UConn, and split Houston/Memphis. 8 wins. I've added 2 wins (Navy and Houston/Memphis) to my original prediction because of the noticeable impact of the transfers at WR, OL, S, CB, and DL. It sounds like we actually got real players instead of guys who transferred because they weren't any good.

[Lotus]

QB - at least as good as last year.

OMG... Hicks needs to stay healthy

[JasonB]

QB - at least as good as last year.

OMG... Hicks needs to stay healthy

Totally agree - it is the key to the season.

[One Trick Pony]

Beat Navy ...

[footballdad]

QB - at least as good as last year.

OMG... Hicks needs to stay healthy

Totally agree - it is the key to the season.

Getting out of the Michigan game alive will go a long way to that goal. He will be under unrelenting pressure all day as Michigan plays man and blitzes constantly.

[One Trick Pony]

Glutton, carcajou

[DallasDiehard]

No way a game is getting cancelled/replaced a month out.

Sure hope Westerfield's flash translates from the practice field to games.