Aug. 10 practice notes / observations

[PonyPride]

Saturday's practice was split between drills and "live" (scrimmage) sessions, with many presumed started being held out or at least limited. Some observations:

• A few players have switched jersey numbers since last year, including:
WR Reggie Roberson (was 21) now wearing No. 8
WR Judah Bell (was 84) now wearing No. 13
DL Chris Biggurs (was 94) no wearing 68

• Head coach Sonny Dykes said last Friday, at his first preseason media mingle, that he liked QBs Shane Buechele, Will Brown and Terrance Gipson. He noted that Gipson's role would expand to include more running, which is one of his strengths, but that the team would be cautious with that part of Gipson's game because the knee injury that cut short his senior season at Houston's Westfield High School. Gipson, who took part in spring workouts with the Mustangs, looked good when running Saturday, not only with the burst to get around defenders and take off, but also with his lateral movement and his ability to start and stop, and change directions; on one play, he tucked the ball and headed upfield, then hitting the brakes to allow a linebacker to sail past him and start running again. He still wears a brace on his left knee, but he was surprisingly quick, and understandably more mobile than in the spring.

• One play in the "live" (11 on 11) drills that normally would go unnoticed was of some interest was a short screen pass to WR Reggie Roberson, who was dropped behind the line of scrimmage by CB Brandon Stephens, the graduate transfer from UCLA. Tackling Roberson, who is shifty and quick, is hard enough — Dykes said Friday he wanted to see more sure tackling from the secondary — and Stephens did a nice job of wrapping up Roberson and bringing him down. But it also was notable because of the fact that Stephens spent his time at UCLA playing running back, meaning his limited tackling came on special teams. One play does not dictate Stephens' role in the defense, but if nothing else, his open-field tackle on an elusive, fast runner like Roberson suggests he represents the kind of player Dykes wants to add on defense.

• Two of the most impressive players Saturday were running backs TaMerik Williams and Ulysses Bentley. Williams looks visibly stronger than he did at this time a year ago. He handled a steady workload of runs through the interior of the line of scrimmage, where traffic is heaviest, and he also showed good burst when he went around tackle, cut back into the middle and then split CB Justin Guy-Robinson and LB Jimmy Phillips on a touchdown run of about 60 yards. Bentley looks like the fastest pure sprinter among all of the RBs, several times beating the defense to the sideline and turning upfield, but also showing the ability to absorb a hit, maintain his balance and keep pushing upfield for additional yardage.

• Dykes has said that among his goals is establishing better depth among the LBs. One player who got considerable time Saturday was Jordan Ward, who missed the 2018 season with a knee injury. Another LB who seemed to be around the ball a lot was sophomore JC Rispress, who forced a fumble when he met RB Merek Pierce at the line of scrimmage and buried his helmet into the football, which was scooped up by transfer DB Chevin Calloway, who headed upfield untouched before the whistle blew.

• That was not the only would-be touchdown for the defense. S Chace Cromartie slid across the end zone to make a nice lunging interception of a pass by QB Will Brown and had loads of open real estate in front of him ... but while regaining his balance, ran into S Rodney Clemons. The play was blown dead as he headed upfield, and maybe the collision would have cost him a touchdown ... but it was a nice pick by Cromartie.

• Several alums visited practice, including DB Sterling Moore and WR Der'Rikk Thompson.

• Watch a WRs drill and immediately obvious is how much bigger the group is with the additions of new comers like 6-1 Rashee Rice, 6-4 Calvin Wiggins and 6-3 Keke Burns. The three present the QBs with bigger targets, and all have pretty good speed.

• An argument can be made that no position group on the team passes the always-scientific eyeball test better than the tight ends. At 6-3, 235, transfer Kyle Granson could be called the "little guy" among the group, although he's not exactly small and has shown the speed and hands to create mismatches against many defenders. Sophomore Ben Redding (6-4, 237) is back, as are seniors Ryan Becker (6-5, 248) and Corey Rau (6-3, 258). Then add in transfers Tommy McIntyre (6-8, 258) and Cody Banks (6-7, 258), and TEs coach Josh Martin has a pretty impressive group with which to work. The crew offers a wide array of size and speed, blocking and receiving, creating a list of options that could go as far as the imagination of OC Rhett Lashlee and Martin, who also coaches special teams.

[Thumper]

I have always bes lieved that most coaches do not take full advantage of the skills many good tight ends offer. That last note about the stable of tight ends is incredibly intriguing and I hope we get the most out of them.