Thursday voluntary workout notes

[PonyPride]

Made it in time to catch the seven-on-seven drills in Thursday's voluntary workout, which is a good thing because there was very little to see in the way of running afterward. The seven-on-seven part wasn't very long, either, as the players cut short the session in order to go inside and work on their core strength before doing some sprint work afterward. Some notes:

• Three alums were in attendance for the seven-on-seven drills (the linemen stayed inside and lifted weights): Washington Redskin WR Aldrick Robinson, CB Sterling Moore and LB Youri Yenga.

• New secret weapon? No, but before the seven-on-seven drills started, some players were giving LB Kevin Pope a hard time about comments he made about his multiple skills; at 1A Mount Enterprise (Texas) High School, Pope played a number of positions on offense, defense and special teams. Pope started talking about his prowess ... as a punter. A few teammates questioned challenged his claims that he could punt a ball 50 yards, so Pope retreated to midfield. His first effort squibbed off the side of his foot and went only 32 yards, drawing a chorus from his teammates who felt justified in their skepticism. Unfazed, Pope retreated to midfield again and launched a perfect spiral 58 yards, silencing his teammates. For good measure, Pope punted a third time from the 50-yard line and hit another that landed right on the goal line.

• Richard Crawford, who will be a senior in the fall, is all but guaranteed one of the starting CB spots, but started slowly Thursday, dropping a sure interception when he jumped in front of WR Steve McCormack and had a pass hit him right in the chest. Moments later, Crawford simply got beaten by a good player making a good play, when QB Kyle Padron fired a 25-yard strike into the right side of the end zone and WR Keenan Holman outjumped Crawford for the high pass. (To be fair, I didn't see Crawford give up another completion for the rest of the afternoon.)

• McCormack got caught flat-footed on the pass Crawford should have picked off, but responded nicely on the next drive. QB J.J. McDermott found McCormack on back-to-back plays — first on a crossing route over the middle and then on a soft deep ball over CB Chris Parks in the end zone.

• McDermott started fast, completing his first five passes, before hitting a cold stretch. A pass into the end zone was dropped by WR Brad Haynes, who had three defenders swatting at the ball, and the next pass sailed over Haynes' head. One play later, McDermott looked for an open target before firing a shallow sideline pass that was intercepted and "returned" by CB Chris Castro.

• Randall Joyner was moved from safety to linebacker shortly after his arrival on campus last year, and showed flashes of his DB skills when he jumped up to snag a pass over the middle from QB Steve Kaiser.

• One of the players who looks visibly different from last season is LB Taylor Reed, who has put on a solid 15 pounds over his 2010 listed playing weight of 215 pounds. Reed said he now weighs 230 pounds, the weight at which he hopes to play in 2011. In order to carry that weight during the season, he said he plans to add a few more pounds in the weight room, under the assumption that he will run off a little weight when the Ponies convene in August for preseason camp.

• CB Daren Kitchen is one of just three true freshmen working with his new teammates (freshmen don't report until next week), along with NT Rishaad Wimbley and OL Taylor Lasecki. Some freshmen can get intimidated when they first move up to the college level, but thus far, Kitchen seems to carry himself with a little swagger, and has caught the eye of at least a couple of teammates, one of whom hailed Kitchen's size, long arms, ball skills and quickness.

_______________________________________________________________________________________

Caught up with OL Taylor Lasecki after the workout to find out about how he has overhauled his physique over the last couple of years. As a sophomore, Lasecki said he was "250 or 260" pounds. He started playing his junior season at 260 but dropped to 240 over the course of the season. As he matured and continued to work out, he got up to about 285 pounds for his senior season at Frisco High School, and now is up to "around 300" (he said he weighed in before Thursday's workout at 299 pounds; after working out — and drinking a lot of water — he was up to 303.

Lasecki said his increased bulk is due in part to the natural physical maturation of players his age, persistent work in the weight room ... and eating.

"I eat what I have normally eaten," he said. "If I get too heavy, I watch what I eat, but I eat pretty normally. I just work out a lot and I'm growing."

After he signed his national letter of intent with the Mustangs in February, Lasecki stopped working out with his teammates at Frisco HS.

"I got the (conditioning) packet from SMU and started working out on my own," Lasecki said. "(The SMU workout) is a little different from the lifting we did in high school. There are more Olympic lifts, like the snatch (in which a barbell is lifted from the floor and raised overhead with the arms fully extended, all in one motion)."

Having passed his SMU physical, Lasecki comes down from Frisco every day to work out with his new teammates and the Mustangs' strength and conditioning staff. The workouts, he said, are designed to build more than just strength.

"Some of it is about improving flexibility, too," he said. "In a lift like the hang clean (in which a barbell rests in front of the lifter's waist before being raised up until it rests across the front of the shoulders), it's not just about getting the weight up. They talk about letting the weight come back toward your chest, so the wrists get more flexible, or even bending your fingers back, too. You've got to be strong, but you've got to be able to move and use that strength, too."

[cutter]

great stuff.
thanks.

[Casey]

58 yards is a hell of a punt!

Based on the comments coming from Coach Mason in the spring, I'd say we might have found a really nice player in Randall Joyner. When he signed, my reaction was "who?" Now I just look forward to seeing him play.

[Big Easy Pony]

Love these updates. Thanks, Pride.

[mrydel]

Do those 50+ yard punts include subtracting 15 yards for the snap? If not, they are 35+ yard punts.

[ALEX LIFESON]

Do those 50+ yard punts include subtracting 15 yards for the snap? If not, they are 35+ yard punts.

Ha ha!

[Scoops]

Pretty sure there's a loophole in the NCAA rulebook that says "when punting in order to quiet down teammates who have been jawing at you, the 15-yard drop shall be eliminated."

Even with the 15-yard drop, a 43 is pretty nice. there are a lot of real college punters who don't do that very regularly.

[smustatesmen]

If not from Yard Of Scrimmage, one step or two?

[Insane_Pony_Posse]

CB Daren Kitchen is one of just three true freshmen working with his new teammates (freshmen don't report until next week), Some freshmen can get intimidated when they first move up to the college level, but thus far, Kitchen seems to carry himself with a little swagger, and has caught the eye of at least a couple of teammates, one of whom hailed Kitchen's size, long arms, ball skills and quickness.

Didn't this guy choose SMU over offers from
Nebraska, Michigan, Southern Miss, Stanford, and Kansas?

Hopefully will end up being a playa for us!


CB Daren Kitchen

[ponyboy]

Yes, but unfortunately he's not from Texas.

[smustatesmen]

He isn't ? Ain't that a Texas T around his neck.

[Stallion]

Ponyfan is just making his repeated asinine argument trying to rebut an argument NOBODY has made. The complaint is that SMU is playing catch upin comparison to EVERY Texas school in recruiting Texas because it did not timely do its homework and legwork in Texas and get offers out in Texas. Each of us has repeatedly said we have no problem with Klemm in California or recruiting out of state as long as we adequately cover the prime recruiting base in Texas. The fact that he keeps making this stupid argument shows he doesn't want to deal with the problem in Texas-the facts speak for themselves

[giacfsp]

Ponyfan is just making his repeated asinine argument trying to rebut an argument NOBODY has made. The complaint is that SMU is playing catch upin comparison to EVERY Texas school in recruiting Texas because it did not timely do its homework and legwork in Texas and get offers out in Texas. Each of us has repeatedly said we have no problem with Klemm in California or recruiting out of state as long as we adequately cover the prime recruiting base in Texas. The fact that he keeps making this stupid argument shows he doesn't want to deal with the problem in Texas-the facts speak for themselves

As opposed to naming Ponyfan ... who hasn't even posted in this thread?

Yes, let's recruit just like every other team in Texas. Let's emulate the Rice and North Texas State recruiting plan — that has worked out well.

"The facts" are that schools like the University of Texas is recruiting good players, many of whom happen to be from Texas ... but they also have players from California, Colorado, Oklahoma, Ohio, Louisiana and Mexico. UT has a lot of Texas-bred players, because it's in the position to claim many of the top players in the state. We're not yet at that level, so we have to get the best players who want to play for us, regardless of where they came from. Besides, now that we have had some of Coach Jones's camps, more offers are going out to Texas players, meaning the coaches never were ignoring Texas — they just planned their recruiting strategy around the camps where they would see in-state players.

[Stallion]

Well if that's the Plan then its time to rip that plan up and start over with a new one next year. Don't worry-I don't expect you to understand. .

[RGV Pony]

the coaches never were ignoring Texas — they just planned their recruiting strategy around the camps where they would see in-state players.

there once was another SMU coach who planned his Texas recruiting around only those who attended SMU's camps. How'd that work out for us?