TUESDAY (July 9) CONDITIONING WORKOUT report
Posted: Tue Jul 08, 2008 9:17 pm• After the sprints and conditioning work, the players ran some positional drills again. The linemen got together to practice pass-rush moves (and blocking against them). Two of the highlights favored the defense:
1) Serge Elizee lined up against Sidney Nwangwu and took off to his right. Nwangwu lunged to his left to stay in front of him, but got off-balance, and Elizee spun around, back to his original path up the middle (if there was an actual line of scrimmage). Nwangwu jumped back to stay in front of him, but by that point was back on his heels, and Elizee shoved him straight back toward where the quarterback would be.
2) Youri Yenga is quick  very quick. He lined up across from Kelly Turner, and at the snap of the ball did some kind of a stutter-step and went wide, taking the long route around Turner  and got to where the quarterback would be without being touched.
• Catch first, then run: In the skeleton seven-on-seven drills, the offense ran a jailbreak-style play, where everyone went deep. Freshman B.J. Lee cut off his route to cross the field underneath all the deep routes ... and dropped a pass that fell into his lap.
• New weapon? One of the prettier passes of the day came when Braden Smith fired a strike nearly 50 yards downfield, where Kyle Sullivan snagged the ball over the sideline and stumbled into the end zone.
• If at first you don't succeed: Initial concerns over reports about the performance of Deyon McElroy (which, by the way, is pronounced DAY-on mc-EL-roy) might have been premature. He made one of the best defensive plays of the day, running over fellow DB Chris Banjo to knock the ball away from Sullivan.
• Size matters: When the Ponies suddenly found and then signed WR E.J. Drewery, the first reaction from many was "WHO?" followed by a collective "that guy is HUGE!" In the early workouts, he has shown that he's more than a small forward on the football field  he's fast, he can jump, and most importantly, he can catch. But he also showed Tuesday he's not just a track star. He lined up in one drill across from JUCO signee Bennie Thomas, who at 5-10 and 183 pounds gives away about seven inches and at least 30 pounds to Drewery. Thomas crowded the line of scrimmage to press Drewery at the line of scrimmage, and Drewery threw his right arm over Thomas' head and backhanded him to create some running room .... sending Thomas all the way to the ground. The ball was thrown to the other side of the field, but it was clear Drewery has a couple of ideas about how to handle press coverage.
• Don't ever give up: Logan Turner fired a quick pass to Bryce Lunday on a short out route .... the ball slid through Lunday's hands, but the freshman from Sheridan, Ark., stayed with it, bobbled the ball a couple of times, wrapped it up and turned upfield.
• How fake! Minutes after Lunday's grab, Braden Smith fired a quick out route of his own. Cole Beasley caught the ball as he turned and stopped almost instantly ... causing LB John Nwisienyi to sail by him as Beasley turned upfield.
• Non-catch of the day: Smith fired another deep ball of about 50 yards toward the goal line, where Quincy Whittington made the catch and stumbled backward into the end zone. But his teammates were quick to point out that even the most visually-impaired official would have seen him shove DB Keith Robinson five yards out of the way in order to create the space needed to make the catch.
1) Serge Elizee lined up against Sidney Nwangwu and took off to his right. Nwangwu lunged to his left to stay in front of him, but got off-balance, and Elizee spun around, back to his original path up the middle (if there was an actual line of scrimmage). Nwangwu jumped back to stay in front of him, but by that point was back on his heels, and Elizee shoved him straight back toward where the quarterback would be.
2) Youri Yenga is quick  very quick. He lined up across from Kelly Turner, and at the snap of the ball did some kind of a stutter-step and went wide, taking the long route around Turner  and got to where the quarterback would be without being touched.
• Catch first, then run: In the skeleton seven-on-seven drills, the offense ran a jailbreak-style play, where everyone went deep. Freshman B.J. Lee cut off his route to cross the field underneath all the deep routes ... and dropped a pass that fell into his lap.
• New weapon? One of the prettier passes of the day came when Braden Smith fired a strike nearly 50 yards downfield, where Kyle Sullivan snagged the ball over the sideline and stumbled into the end zone.
• If at first you don't succeed: Initial concerns over reports about the performance of Deyon McElroy (which, by the way, is pronounced DAY-on mc-EL-roy) might have been premature. He made one of the best defensive plays of the day, running over fellow DB Chris Banjo to knock the ball away from Sullivan.
• Size matters: When the Ponies suddenly found and then signed WR E.J. Drewery, the first reaction from many was "WHO?" followed by a collective "that guy is HUGE!" In the early workouts, he has shown that he's more than a small forward on the football field  he's fast, he can jump, and most importantly, he can catch. But he also showed Tuesday he's not just a track star. He lined up in one drill across from JUCO signee Bennie Thomas, who at 5-10 and 183 pounds gives away about seven inches and at least 30 pounds to Drewery. Thomas crowded the line of scrimmage to press Drewery at the line of scrimmage, and Drewery threw his right arm over Thomas' head and backhanded him to create some running room .... sending Thomas all the way to the ground. The ball was thrown to the other side of the field, but it was clear Drewery has a couple of ideas about how to handle press coverage.
• Don't ever give up: Logan Turner fired a quick pass to Bryce Lunday on a short out route .... the ball slid through Lunday's hands, but the freshman from Sheridan, Ark., stayed with it, bobbled the ball a couple of times, wrapped it up and turned upfield.
• How fake! Minutes after Lunday's grab, Braden Smith fired a quick out route of his own. Cole Beasley caught the ball as he turned and stopped almost instantly ... causing LB John Nwisienyi to sail by him as Beasley turned upfield.
• Non-catch of the day: Smith fired another deep ball of about 50 yards toward the goal line, where Quincy Whittington made the catch and stumbled backward into the end zone. But his teammates were quick to point out that even the most visually-impaired official would have seen him shove DB Keith Robinson five yards out of the way in order to create the space needed to make the catch.
