Thursday (6/27/13) optional workout notes

[PonyPride]

Players are back out on the field Thursday, and it looks better than it did in past weeks. More players are here (a little over 50), and plays seem to be getting run with more intensity (DBs right up on WRs at the line of scrimmage). Also, today is starting with 11-on-11 formations, instead of 7-on-7, although they obviously aren't hitting each other (no pads, no helmets, etc.) Linemen on both sides are simply getting lined up in the right place and going through the motions of blocking and rushing the passer, letting the QBs get the ball thrown cleanly.

• Best defensive play of the first drive: S Hayden Greenbauer racing across the field to knock away a pass intended for WR Der'Rikk Thompson. After a quick re-start, the drive ended with QB Garrett Gilbert finding WR Keenan Holman for a touchdown with a pass thrown low and outside, where either Holman would have caught or nobody would have. Very nice catch, but even better throw.

• Another INT on the second drive when WR Darius Joseph went up between two DBs to battle for a high pass from QB Neal Burcham. Three or four hands hit the ball at the same time, deflecting it high into the air before S A.J. Justice came down with the pick.

• A lot has been said about the speed of LB Lincoln Richard, and rightly so, but he's not the only young LB who can run. On an otherwise nondescript play, the ball was snapped past QB Neal Burcham. By the time he turned around to pick it up, LB Jarvis Pruitt already had gotten into the backfield and picked it up. The play wasn't an accurate evaluation of Pruitt's pass-rush ability, but what is inarguable is that he appears to be another in the line of big, young linebackers with legitimate speed and quickness.

• The difference in Gilbert's on-field demeanor is startling. A year ago, he had just transferred to SMU and knew virtually nothing about the offense. He took part in these optional workouts, but spent much of the time talking through plays with teammates, asking where to look, where to throw, etc. With a year in the system under his belt, Gilbert looks like a fifth-year senior leading his offense, barking out instructions to teammates, telling them where to line up, etc.

• It seems like something simple, but a lot of coaches talk about how some freshman receivers need to be taught to reach out and snatch the ball in flight, rather than catching it against their bodies. One player who clearly has heard that lesson over and over is freshman WR Deion Sanders, who repeatedly (today and during spring workouts) reaches out and snags the ball — even when running through traffic — before securing the ball against his body.

• A minute after dropping a seemingly catchable ball on a deep out route, WR Kyle Guinyard redeemed himself by beating two DBs to make a diving touchdown catch from QB Austin Kent in the back right corner of the end zone.

• Longest completion of the day so far: QB Neal Burcham just hit WR Keenan Holman for an 85-yard touchdown. The ball flew more than 50 yards in the air, just out of the reach of the DB and into Holman's hands.

• Burcham and Holman seem to be on the same proverbial page. Moments after hooking up on the long touchdown, the pair connected again when Burcham took the snap on about the 15-yard line, looked to the side as if preparing to throw a screen pass and then floating a high pass to the back corner of the end zone. Nobody waiting to make the catch, but Holman cruised across the back of the end zone to make a one-handed catch in the back corner of the end zone, just getting a foot down inbounds.

• Working out again on the side: Pittsburgh Steelers OL Kelvin Beachum, Jr.

[PonyPlayer4]

I hope the coaches are constantly in Burcham's ear talking about the future. I think he will be really good for us for 3 years.

[Hoofprint]

Sounds like Holman had a really good day. Hopefully that's a sign of what we can expect in his senior season.