PonyFans.com spring practice report (March 4, 2014)
Posted: Tue Mar 04, 2014 8:17 pm• Jerry Saena, who redshirted the 2013 season as a backup offensive tackle, and Nick Reed, who moved over to offense to add depth at running back for the last couple of games last season, are working with the defensive linemen as nose tackles. Jarrett Spencer, who will be a junior in the fall, is moving from defensive end to the offensive line. Cayman Carter, a walk-on QB in 2013, spent some time doing drills with the defensive backs.
• LB Stephon Sanders (ankle), S Hayden Greenbauer and WR Deion Sanders (shoulder) will miss the entire spring workouts.
Greenbauer ran (not at full speed) on the side while his teammates went through drills, and said he feels “great.†He said the last estimate he got suggested that he would be able to begin football-related workouts in “about a month.â€
• QB Conner Preston, who sat out the entire 2013 season because of an uncommon circulatory issue, is back on the field with his teammates, taking part in all drills. Preston recently said he has gained weight over the offseason, up to “about 204 or 205†pounds, looks leaner this spring. The passes he (and the other quarterbacks) threw were mostly short and intermediate in length, directed at receivers who were running half-speed; that said, Preston showed good velocity and a fairly quick release. It’s far too early to even begin to speculate about any kind of depth chart, but when the offense ran skeleton (no defense) drills as a unit, Preston was the second quarterback to take snaps (after Neal Burcham).
• Preston is not the only player who looks stronger — several look leaner or stronger or both. One such player was S Shakiel Randolph, who looks considerably stronger than he did last year (although he said recently that his weight is not wildly different from the listed 201 listed on last year’s roster. At one point, he dropped a pass while doing drills with the rest of the defensive backs and secondary coach Derrick Odum, at which point he penalized himself with push-ups that he executed while lifting one leg up behind him. Think that’s easy? Try it.
• Guard Ben Hughes, a guard on the 2013 roster, has graduated and will not return to the team.
• Tuesday’s workout was the first in the college career of OL William Barns, who sat out the 2013 season as a greyshirt. Again, it’s far too early to project a depth chart or line combinations, but Barns played center with the second-team line. Daniel McCarty played LG and Chewy Chamagua played RG with the first OL unit. Spencer played LG with the second unit, with Travis Fister playing RG.
• Head coach June Jones acknowledged that the team is thin at receiver, although Tuesday’s practice did mark the return of Daijuan Stewart, Everett Dickerson and Cedric Lancaster.
• Several players have changed jersey numbers: LB Jonathan Yenga is wearing 1 … LB Nick Horton is wearing 5 … LB Derek Longoria is wearing 25 … RB Prescott Line is wearing 42 … OL Jarrett Spencer is wearing 77 … Saena is wearing 98. As for the newcomers, LB Caleb Tuiasosopo is wearing 4 … William Barns is wearing 51 … OL Bozidar Antunovic is wearing 78.
• LB Stephon Sanders (ankle), S Hayden Greenbauer and WR Deion Sanders (shoulder) will miss the entire spring workouts.
Greenbauer ran (not at full speed) on the side while his teammates went through drills, and said he feels “great.†He said the last estimate he got suggested that he would be able to begin football-related workouts in “about a month.â€
• QB Conner Preston, who sat out the entire 2013 season because of an uncommon circulatory issue, is back on the field with his teammates, taking part in all drills. Preston recently said he has gained weight over the offseason, up to “about 204 or 205†pounds, looks leaner this spring. The passes he (and the other quarterbacks) threw were mostly short and intermediate in length, directed at receivers who were running half-speed; that said, Preston showed good velocity and a fairly quick release. It’s far too early to even begin to speculate about any kind of depth chart, but when the offense ran skeleton (no defense) drills as a unit, Preston was the second quarterback to take snaps (after Neal Burcham).
• Preston is not the only player who looks stronger — several look leaner or stronger or both. One such player was S Shakiel Randolph, who looks considerably stronger than he did last year (although he said recently that his weight is not wildly different from the listed 201 listed on last year’s roster. At one point, he dropped a pass while doing drills with the rest of the defensive backs and secondary coach Derrick Odum, at which point he penalized himself with push-ups that he executed while lifting one leg up behind him. Think that’s easy? Try it.
• Guard Ben Hughes, a guard on the 2013 roster, has graduated and will not return to the team.
• Tuesday’s workout was the first in the college career of OL William Barns, who sat out the 2013 season as a greyshirt. Again, it’s far too early to project a depth chart or line combinations, but Barns played center with the second-team line. Daniel McCarty played LG and Chewy Chamagua played RG with the first OL unit. Spencer played LG with the second unit, with Travis Fister playing RG.
• Head coach June Jones acknowledged that the team is thin at receiver, although Tuesday’s practice did mark the return of Daijuan Stewart, Everett Dickerson and Cedric Lancaster.
• Several players have changed jersey numbers: LB Jonathan Yenga is wearing 1 … LB Nick Horton is wearing 5 … LB Derek Longoria is wearing 25 … RB Prescott Line is wearing 42 … OL Jarrett Spencer is wearing 77 … Saena is wearing 98. As for the newcomers, LB Caleb Tuiasosopo is wearing 4 … William Barns is wearing 51 … OL Bozidar Antunovic is wearing 78.