• More NFL scouts in attendance. Wednesday’s practice was visited by scouts from the Houston Texans, Denver Broncos and Cleveland Browns.

• T Taylor Reich got his “first good news out of a doctor’s office in a while” Wednesday when he received clearance to return to all football-related drills Thursday after breaking a pin in his surgically repaired right ankle. Doctors determined that the bones and ligaments had healed to the extent that additional surgery to retrieve or replace the pin was not necessary. Reich said he hopes to do everything his teammates do, and said that while some discomfort lingers in his ankle, it’s “nothing that’s going to hold me out of anything.”

Freshman WR Nate Halverson has the speed to get deep on defenses and the ability to adjust to passes in flight (photo by PonyFans.com).

• One of the more entertaining drills in practice is when defensive coordinator Tom Mason calls two players into the center of a ring of players and lines them up as if they are at the line of scrimmage. The goal is either to drive the other player out of the ring, or pin him on his back. Some of the more impressive efforts were turned in by CB Ajee Montes, who pinned S A.J. Justice, and LB Uchenna Nwabiuke, who pinned LB Lincoln Richard. Entering just his second season of playing football, DE Mason Gentry was singled out after practice by head coach June Jones as one of the freshmen who has caught his eye because of his exceptional athleticism, but he can afford to play with his pads lower; once DE Elie Nabushosi got under Gentry’s pads and drove him backward, Gentry got caught on his heels and could do nothing to re-engage.

• One player who is making plays repeatedly is WR Nate Halverson. The freshman from Portland, Ore., has the advantage of having enrolled in January, so he has a headstart over the other freshman wideouts on learning the offense. But he also is among the fastest players — if not the fastest player — on the team, and appears able to adjust very well when the ball is in flight. On more than one occasion, he has beaten a DB on a deep pass and whirled around to catch a ball over the opposite shoulder. He also has shown a knack for maintaining focus on deflected passes.

• Where sophomore K.C. Nlemchi fits in the RB pecking order remains to be seen, but he looks better than he did in his first two seasons on the Hilltop. Nlemchi always has been strong and very fast, but coaches say his blocking is much improved, and he has shown softer hands as a receiver out of the backfield. Head coach June Jones has said JUCO transfer Traylon Shead is the Mustangs’ likely starter in 2013, but the way he is improving, it’s possible Nlemchi could force his way into the rotation with Prescott Line and Luke Seeker.

• The specialists get started before practice starts, but K Chase Hover also kicked some field goals practice, including a 52-yarder that split the uprights right down the middle with several yards to spare.

• WR Arrius Holleman had a better day Wednesday than he did Tuesday. A day after having a pair of receptions stripped from him during seven-on-seven drills (one for a fumble that was recovered by freshman S Darrion Richardson, the other for an incompletion), Holleman made several nice grabs Wednesday, including one that required very quick reflexes on his part, as a fastball bounced off the hands of WR/TE Jeremiah Gaines a few feet in front of him, but Holleman was able to react, twist his shoulders around and snatch the pass before it fluttered out of bounds.

• CB Ajee Montes had a nice stretch during seven-on-seven drills. In one sequence, he and LB Jordan Miller teamed up to pop the ball from the arms of WR Cedric Lancaster, at which point Montes pounced on it. On the next play, he made a diving interception.

• Coaches often say the first step in being an effective defensive player is simply getting lined up in the right place on each play. Coaches and teammates rave about S Hayden Greenbauer’s knowledge of the defense, understanding his teammates’ assignments as well as his own. At one point during seven-on-seven drills, Greenbauer took only a step or two from his original position to make an interception of a pass by QB Neal Burcham.

• One way in which QB Garrett Gilbert looks different from a year ago at this time is that he is throwing deep balls with more touch. In his first camp with the Mustangs last year, Gilbert sometimes threw with a lot of velocity when he could have taken a few miles per hour off his fastball. But several times during the first few practices, Garrett has dropped passes into coverage or over the outside shoulder of his receiver where either his man could reach it or nobody could. During seven-on-seven drills Wednesday, he completed a pass of 15 or 20 yards to TE/WR Jeremiah Gaines that would not have been noticed as a big play in a game, except for the fact that Gaines only had a buffer of a few yards between LB Stephon Sanders in front of him and S Jay Scott behind him. Both were close to Gaines and closing in, and Gilbert threw it — on the run — where only Gaines had a shot at making the catch.

• QB Neal Burcham completed a high lob pass to RB Traylon Shead, who leaped high over LB Kevin Pope to make the grab … prompting the line of the day from one observer: “woah … the Pope has been overthrown!”