MONDAY PRACTICE REPORT

[PonyPride]

It's Monday morning and it's absurdly cold, so I confess I didn't get there in time to see the whole practice. Nonetheless ... a few notes:

Let's go live: Monday marked the first time the offense and defense went against each other in practice. In previous practices, players worked against other players in their own position groups, but they often serve as little more than token opponents, but Monday was the first time players went up against players in other-colored jerseys (the offense wears white practice jerseys, defense wears red - the quarterbacks, who are off-limits to defenders, wear blue). The drills didn't include offensive linemen or defensive linemen - more of a seven-on-seven drill against linebackers and defensive backs.

Just drop it: Maybe it was the cold weather, but the receivers had a much tougher time Monday than the quarterbacks. Bo Levi Mitchell (who practiced in gloves and long sleeves), J.J. McDermott (long sleeves) and Braden Smith (no gloves, no sleeves) generally had most of their passes on target, but numerous players dropped multiple passes, whether they had to reach for them or whether the ball hit them in the gut.

Hit of the day: Delivered by WR Terrance Wilkerson on DB Robert Mojica. Braden Smith fired a pass to the sideline on a deep out route that Wilkerson went up and hauled in with a nice grab ... only to come down, take a step our two out of bounds and level Mojica, who wasn't even in the drill.

Move of the day: Everyone knows WR Emmanuel Sanders can run and certainly can catch. But he showed exceptional elusiveness Monday when he caught a pass in the left flat and promptly juked six of the seven defenders on the field before cruising upfield. True, they weren't going to hit him hard, but the fact that he barely had a finger laid on him was impressive.

Comfort zone: One of the players who is working at a new position is former defensive end Patrick Fleming, who now is working mostly with the outside linebackers. It's hard to judge players - especially defensive players - when virtually all they have done so far is work through positional drills. But in the first pseudo-live sessions of spring ball, Fleming was working at the right OLB position when QB J.J. McDermott threw a quick screen pass to RB Bryce Lunday. Fleming, who was playing about 10 yards deep, raced forward as the ball flew toward Lunday, then broke down into a controlled position that would allow him to switch directions easily, if need be, before wrapping up Lunday. It sounds easy, but it's not uncommon at all to see an over-eager OLB go racing by a ball-carrier because he sprints so hard he's not under control. Fleming is by no means a polished LB yet, but he looked like he had been playing the position for a long time.

[GeorgiaMustang]

Great stuff! Do you know anymore about the injury to Justin Willis? I hope he can get back out there quickly. It'd be nice to have senior leadership as well as his physical tools.

[SMU 86]

Nice job Pride.

[ALEX LIFESON]

Thanks PP!

[BringBackThePonies03]

After just talking to two football players, sounds like Willis had a HORRIBLE break...One of them thought he broke his ankle in like 8 places and the other one said his knee and his ankle were turning opposite directions and his leg was more or less snapped. Regardless this is a horrible injury and I feel bad for Justin. Hopefully it isn't as bad as it sounded...

[southerncomfort]

It's as bad as it sounded. But he took it like a champ.