Monday (7/11/11) voluntary workout notes

[PonyPride]

• Sometimes it's better to be lucky than good. When the skill-position players gather Monday for seven-on-seven drills, some of the freshmen got a few more repetitions as they start to absorb the first elements of the offensive and defensive systems. One was WR Darius Joseph, who caught a pass from QB J.J. McDermott on an intermediate out route. As he headed to the sideline, Joseph lost the ball when SS Justin Sorrell reached around Joseph and punched it free ... only to watch it bounce straight back up into the arms of Joseph, who took off downfield.

• Probably the best accuracy of the day was shown by QB J.J. McDermott, who threaded a pass into triple coverage to WR Jeremy Johnson over the middle about 20 yards downfield.

• WR Steve Nelson did his best spinning top impression Monday when he caught a pass over the middle from QB Steve Kaiser. The ball seemed headed straight toward S Hayden Greenbauer until Nelson reached out and snatched it. He spun away from Greenbauer ... and had to spin again to avoid S Chris Banjo before stepping into the end zone.

• WR Keenan Holman has come a long way in a year. Last season, he had the gifts of size and speed, but little experience after playing in a run-based option offense, and had to begin the process of learning the nuances of the receiver position. On one play Monday, he caught a touchdown pass from QB Kyle Padron in the right side of the end zone. A year ago, he might have settled for reaching over DB Chris Castro to try to make the catch, but instead, he drove Castro to the back of the end zone, pivoted quickly and raced back toward the oncoming pass. Because of his speed when running downfield and his quick turn, there was nobody within five yards of him when the ball arrived.

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The Mustangs did extensive conditioning running after the seven-on-seven drills, going through a series of sprints in groups (players were broken up by position).

• LB Kevin Pope was impressive. After his spring tryout at linebacker, defensive coordinator Tom Mason raved about Pope's explosiveness, and he showed a little of it Monday. Not only did he finish at or near the front of the linebackers group in many of the sprints, he repeatedly showed quick acceleration and stopping ability, a knack for changing direction quickly and good lateral movement.

• One of the more brutal runs required groups of players to line up on the goal line and run to the 50-yard line and back, to the 40 and back, to the 30 and back, to the 20 and back, to the 10 and back. Ben Gottschalk not only finished first among the offensive linemen, at one point he had a lead of nearly 25 yards over the nearest OL before downshifting at the finish.

• Some of the others who "won" their position groups:
Receivers: Der'Rikk Thompson
Linebackers: Uchenna Nwabuike

The defensive backs were the most closely contested group, as Daren Kitchen, J.R. Robinson, Chris Parks, Richard Crawford and Rodney Hubert finished first through fifth ... but were separated by only a couple of steps.

• When the drill was shortened to the 30-yard line and back, 20, 10 ... Gottschalk and Christian Miller finished and second among offensive linemen, while Nwabuike, Robert Seals and Sanders led the linebackers.

[ALEX LIFESON]

Thanks double P. Pony Up!

[mrydel]

Looking at the thread title, I imagine this is a big day for the University of Houston. Do you think they had a flag ceremony at 7:11am and/or pm?

[ALEX LIFESON]

Looking at the thread title, I imagine this is a big day for the University of Houston. Do you think they had a flag ceremony at 7:11am and/or pm?

Ha ha, Hoss Brock!

[Stallion]

Free Slurpees all day at 7/11

[ponyscott]

Thanks PP and its sure looks like we have some improved athletes coming in this year...

[Harry0569]

Great as always--thanks PP. Based on your workout notes, it seems like Holman is taking tremendous strides that should result in a lot more PT. Can the same be said about Jeremy Johnson?

[Mitch McConnell]

Holman might turn out to be the best WR of the entire group.