PonyFans.com practice report: April 9, 2016.

[JasonB]

Tank Carder never played the Star position-he was an Inside LB his entire career at TCU. You continue to fail to understand what a Star is

Or, I wrote the post off the top of my head and mentioned the wrong guy. Anyway, all I am saying is that if we don't have a stud Star and don't have the stud DE's to allow the 4-2-5, we might see a lot of 4-3.

[footballdad]

This is the kind of irresponsible sunshine and rainbows practice report from PP that made everyone think 2014 was going to be awesome. You literally cannot say anything bad.

Props to Jason B for actually giving some observations from both sides of the aisle

Thanks, but please, please, please understand that the University has certain ground rules that have to be followed if you are to be provided with a press pass and allowed on the field. A lot of topics are off-limits. It has been that way for years.

PonyPride, I believe, makes a conscious choice to follow those rules to the letter, and err on the side of being more conservative out of respect to the school, which is a quality I personally admire rather than denigrate. And as you can tell from the recruiting roundups, he knows the players and their families, which I am sure he is sensitive to.

Other sites skirt those rules a bit more. A lot of times, they don't get in trouble. Sometimes they do (EJ got banned by June a few years ago).

I attended the practice on Saturday simply as a fan, which allows me more liberty to post as a fan. I just wanted to provide more information to those who are fans and couldn't make it. But I don't think it is justified to rip on PonyPride for how he covers the proceedings. He volunteers his time and I think does the best job he can while following the rules.

BOP just prefers to make snide remarks. Probably never ventured off the boulevard for a game.

[malonish]

BOP just prefers to make snide remarks. Probably never ventured off the boulevard for a game.

I've seen him at games when he is able to fly in from Cali.

[blackoutpony]

As an undergrad, I went to every single home game except when it fell over fall break or thanksgiving, and the Houston game in 2011 because I was too drunk to use words properly.

I've been to away games at Tech, Baylor, A&M , and TCU. I rode in the trunk of some Mazada crossover that was already completely filled with bags and a grill for the A&M game. I make it to 3 or 4 games a year and I live in California, but you're right mom, I just like snide remarks and I suck

Aside from that, I stand by my statement about the soft and fluffy practice reports. I understand there are rules, but it doesn't make it any more accurate.

[Digetydog]

There are no healthy players on the entire team right now who were recruited to play the Star in the 4-2-5 which is probably why they ain't running it much, Next season there will be plenty of options there of players who were specifically recruited based on projecting them to the Star

Is it my imagination or do we have an abnormal amount of injuries on defense going back to last Spring? It seems like we always have guys dropping out every week.

[mtrout]

Remember the injuries are all Mel's fault

[skyscraper]

It's interesting seeing different versions of the same practice on different sites.

[Wild Mustang]

Any news on Kyran Mitchell? I recognized that he only got to play a few games last year before getting injured, but the kid was a beast! Hoping for a healthy return for our top returning linebacker.

[footballdad]

Tallest midget

[JasonB]

I think KM had a pretty bad injury. I wouldn't expect to see anything until Fall.

As for the different perspectives of the sites...

The surprise for me at practice was Honey. I had read a bunch of hype about him, but I thought he really struggled for most of practice. The two balls he batted up in the air were catches most receivers make - a little hot, but hit him in both hands and 10+ yards downfield over the middle. Sutton even got on him about it at one point. There is obviously a BUNCH of upside there, I don't want to take away from that and he obviously puts his heart into it because he came back well at the end with a nice catch, but he isn't ready yet. Counting on him to play at this point would be like playing Holman early on when we just didn't have any other big receivers under June. Maybe things change before the Fall, but that isn't something I would want to depend on. With Castille and Thomas not practicing last weekend, my initial thought was that Guilliard and Proche can step in for Castille, but Honey isn't ready to step in for Thomas.

I'm surprised that nobody is talking about those two throws Colbert made. They were fantastic, easily the best two throws of the day. My negative criticism of Hicks might be a little overly biased by the INT he threw early. Great arm talent. But neither he nor Davis showed me an ability to be consistently effective.

[footballdad]

I think KM had a pretty bad injury. I wouldn't expect to see anything until Fall.

As for the different perspectives of the sites...

The surprise for me at practice was Honey. I had read a bunch of hype about him, but I thought he really struggled for most of practice. The two balls he batted up in the air were catches most receivers make - a little hot, but hit him in both hands and 10+ yards downfield over the middle. Sutton even got on him about it at one point. There is obviously a BUNCH of upside there, I don't want to take away from that and he obviously puts his heart into it because he came back well at the end with a nice catch, but he isn't ready yet. Counting on him to play at this point would be like playing Holman early on when we just didn't have any other big receivers under June. Maybe things change before the Fall, but that isn't something I would want to depend on. With Castille and Thomas not practicing last weekend, my initial thought was that Guilliard and Proche can step in for Castille, but Honey isn't ready to step in for Thomas.

I'm surprised that nobody is talking about those two throws Colbert made. They were fantastic, easily the best two throws of the day. My negative criticism of Hicks might be a little overly biased by the INT he threw early. Great arm talent. But neither he nor Davis showed me an ability to be consistently effective.

Don't think Morris will hesitate to start Colbert if he is an obviously better passer than Davis. Also has enough mobility, and the ability to throw on the run, until the OLine gets better.