Practice (August 19) observations

[PonyPride]

Once again, our friend JasonB attended practice and took extensive notes, and is nice enough to share his observations with PonyFans.com.
Many thanks, JasonB!


Today's report is going to be light in certain areas because I spent most of my time focusing on the lines.

• One of the reasons there have been some injuries to the receiving corp is that the throws were a little off at some of the other practices, forcing receivers to really lay out for the ball. Today, however, the QBs were much more accurate. WRs didn't have to make diving catches, and in the team drills, the QBs drove the team down the field pretty effectively.
• QBs Tanner Mordecai and Preston Stone get most of the attention, but the coaches really found someone in Kevin Jennings. He is really going to be a good player.
• At RB, Tre Siggers continues to be the No. 1 guy. Camar Wheaton has awesome speed and good hands, and will eventually compete, but Siggers is clearly the top back still. T.J. McDaniel shows that he has gotten the straight-line burst back, but I haven't seen him run the ball into the line enough to know if he can take a hit or what his lower-body strength is at.
• At TE, Ben Redding and R.J. Maryland both made plays Friday. Everyone talks about what a solid camp Redding has had.
• At WR, one thing that really pops is the acceleration that Jordan Kerley has. He is sudden with his explosiveness, and really looks great out there. I think Rashee Rice and Kerley are your starting outside receivers. Moochie Dixon and Beau Corrales were both out today, but Jake Bailey was back, and he continues to show that he will be excellent in the slot. One guy who is improving is Teddy Knox. I thought he rounded off his routes and wasn't catching the ball as well as some of the others in the first two practices I attended. But his feet have really, really improved, his breaks are sharper, and his hands are better, and of course, he has incredible top-end speed. Roderick Daniels made an incredible finger-tip catch when Jennings threw a pass behind him — the athleticism and hands he showed on that play were outstanding. There seems to be one catch he makes every practice that turns your head. Dylan Goffney shocked me when he dove for a ball across the back of the end zone and didn't come down with the catch — first time all camp that I have seen him not come up with a catch that he could have made (granted, he was diving for it). Calvin Wiggins continues to take a step forward, although he struggles a little on shorter routes across the middle with the speed of the ball. There continue to be 11 players on this roster that I think are legit receivers.
• At OL, Owen Condon and Marcus Bryant switched sides today, with Condon playing RT and Bryant on the left. Condon does a very solid job. I wouldn't say he is physically dominant, but he has the athleticism to play tackle well, and he has good strength — certainly above average in the league.
• Bryant is super-long, and moves really well. I think he is a better run blocker than Condon. Sometimes his length can work against him, but I think they can really use his athleticism to do some unique things, potentially, in the running game. If he stays healthy, I wouldn't be surprised to see him take a significant step forward this season, he looked really good to me today.
• Joe Bissinger is playing LG, and just looks really solid. I think he will be a better run blocker than pass blocker. This might be surprising, but I think he might be the fifth-best OL because of Bryant's step and the next two guys.
• Justin Osborne was playing RG, and I think he has taken a significant leap forward. When he first got to SMU, he was just big and strong. He is much more mobile and athletic now. Good burst off the line in run blocking, and a nice combo of strength and athleticism. He looks really good.
• Finally, Jaylon Thomas looks great. Strong, great leverage, really fast off the line and athletic — the best lineman out there. He is being tried at center, both because it is his NFL position and because the coaches are trying to get the five best linemen on the field. If he can't get his snaps consistent, it is going to be really interesting to see who they take off the field at guard — Bissinger or Osborne.
• Hickman is next on the list. He doesn't have the same leg strength, so he doesn't burst off the line in the running game like some of the others, which is why he is a little behind. But he shows up quite well in the passing game, and he handled the rush of Terrance Newman and Braylen Jackson pretty easily. He is a very nice option as the No. 6 in the lineup.
• Cameron Ervin is probably next and backs up at RG. He handled Mike Sandro-Njeki pretty well in drills. Again, doesn't get the push in the running game, but holds up OK in the passing game. He is a serviceable option. He struggles with speed, and couldn't handle Trevion Sneed on one play.
• Ben Sparks backs up at LG, and really is up and down. When he is good, he does a great job, like when he won 1v1 against Dylan Frazier. But there are times that he gets beaten with speed and struggles with pass protection. He had all kinds of trouble trying to contain Stephon Wright. He has potential, but the consistency isn't there yet.
• Dalton Perdue may be moving past Sparks as the eighth-best lineman. I thought he was coming around in the fall, didn't look great at the other practices I went to, but looked better today backing up at RT. He has great size and length, but still looks a little stiff at times and struggles against the faster edge rushers. Junior Aho beat him twice really badly before Purdue finally held his own the third time around.
• As for the others, Thalen Robinson still isn't a full participant, but at least today was doing some of the drills. He has lost a ton of bad weight, but I'm not sure how quickly he will be ready to compete. Erin Smith is long and lean (listed at 6-5, 262) and athletic, but doesn't have the weight on yet.
• At DE, Aho and Sneed were starting with Jayden Jones and Isaiah Smith second team but all of them, especially, Aho and Jones, switched between first and second team. The group that practiced today is good and active, but there isn't that one "dominant" guy yet. This shows up because in 1v1, they do OK, but don't get past their guy, but once they go to full team, they cause havoc because DT is such a force.
• Aho is starting to take steps forward. He has natural quickness, and is getting better with handling the physical part. He beat Perdue consistently, but then didn't win very much against Condon — good enough to get playing time, but probably not quite that dominant force on the edge yet.
• Sneed has taken some significant steps forward. Very quick off the edge, but will also loop inside and beat Erwin pretty bad on a rush. Has a good burst off the line, and he was probably the end playing most consistently against the 1s. Disruptive, and good enough to cause problems with everything else going on with the line, but not disruptive on his own if that makes any sense.
• Jones wasn't great in the spring, but is really coming into his own. Quick and athletic. Lost to Condon in 1v1 a couple of times, but really pushes, and when it got to actual team session he was a handful and would have had a couple of sacks. Again, solid in 1v1, but then in team you give him help from the interior of the line, and he is much more visible.
• Smith is still that guy that you look at and you can see he will be a plus player when he adds size. The athletic battles of him going against Bryant were great. When he is running on a stretch play, his size becomes and issue because he can get bumped and lose balance. At worst, he could be that third down specialty rusher that we saw from Wiley his freshman year, but he is better than Wiley was then.
• SMU has the best DT group in the conference — easily. This group was fun to watch. They are really talented, but also the nightmare of having to deal with the strength of the nose and then next play they switch size and you have to deal with the speed of the 3 technique, it is going to cause a lot of problems right up the middle.
• Elijah Chatman — everyone talks about his strength, but once he frees up that dude is quick, too. He is awesome, and I think is going to be as disruptive at our level as Ndamukong Suh was in the Big 12 back in the day — great reps against Thomas, Osborne and Bissinger.
• DeVere Levelson next to him, with his quickness and length, it is really a problem, especially in combination with Chatman. Chatman is going to draw a double-team from the center and guard on one side of the line, which leaves that DE 1v1 against an OT, and then Levelston and the other DE both 1v1 on the other side. In team session, they get a lot of pressures.
• Sandro-Njiki looks good at NG. Then you have Newman, who we also know can play. They had a third-string center in there during 1v1 and Sandro-Njiki abused him multiple times, forcing the coaches to move Erwin back to center.
• Wright is in the mix at the 3 technique, and there is no dropoff from Levelston. HIs size and speed combo is really excellent. Nice athleticism. Honestly, last year, that interior combo with Mike Williams was great. But with the additions of Sandro-Njiki and Wright, the Mustangs have actually improved at this position even though someone as good and experienced as Williams graduated.
• There were some interesting changes in the secondary. CB Kevaris Hall paired up with Sam Westfall, while Ar'mani Johnson and Jahari Rogers teamed up today. Brandon Crossley is at nickel back, as is freshman Pierre Goree. Isaiah Nwokobia and Roderick Roberson formed one safety tandem, with Chris Adimora and Nick Roberts also teaming up. I think they are moving Goree around a bit to see if they can find a place for him on the field, and moving some of the others around in response (in previous practices, I've seen both Roberson and Roberts at the nickel back spot). I believe that both Nwokobia and Adimora are more strong safeties than nickelbacks or free safeties. Goree can play nickelback or strong safety (rover), Roberts and Roberson could play nickelback or free safety, and then you have Ahmaad Moses as a free. Goree is getting a shot at nickelback to see if he can break into the two-deep.
• Finally, kicker: Collin Rogers pulled his first 50+-yard attempt a little left, but it had a ton of distance. Then he hit a 55-yarder right down the middle, but off the crossbar. He then took three kicks from 42 and in that were straight down the middle with a ton of distance to spare. He has a stronger leg than I anticipated, and his accuracy was impressive on the last three kicks. Brendan Hall came in and absolutely drilled four straight kicks right down the middle, including a 45-yarder that would have been good from 65. He missed his last attempt from 52, where thee was a poor snap and he kicked it low and wide. It wasn't a terrible effort, but it is just really difficult to adjust to a poor snap with his length. I get the impression that the kicking job hasn't been locked in quite yet, because it looks like the Mustangs have two pretty good kickers. Of course, with kickers, you never know until the pressure is actually on...

[SmooBoy]

Great summary. Thanks JasonB!