At Saturday's practice

[PonyPride]

I wasn't out there long, because it's inhumanly hot out there. However, I managed to see a few things before I melted.

• The reports that DeMyron Martin is up to 235 appear to be true, or at least very close to it. He looks substantially stronger that last year -- the guy is simply huge.
• It's hard to judge the conditioning of the true freshmen, since all most of us ever saw of them was a group of photos on Signing Day. One guy who looks like he has shed some pounds since February is OL Lee Gonzalez, even though he's still listed at 305.
• The Ponies ran some kickoff coverage drills, in which a couple of players would race down field, fight off a couple of blockers and get to the returner. Three guys who showed very good speed and shed their blockers almost effortlessly were Reggie Carrington, Bam Blackmon and Andrew McKinney.
• In kicking drills, Kellis Cunningham has a very strong leg. But at Satuday afternoon's practice, Thomas Morestead got much better height on his kicks, and got the ball up faster. Cunningham hit some long kicks, but they were of the line-drive variety.
• SMU has not had a group of offensive linemen that look the part like this year's crew since the mid-1980s. Coach V's guys look big and strong (even by OL standards), and not just in the starting five.
• The secondary is going to feature some new faces this year after the graduation of Ro Humphrey and Jamey Harper, not to mention DBs-turned-LBs Alvin Nnabuife and Rico Harris (who stopped by Saturday's practice). One newcomer who looked extremely athletic (but likely won't play this year, if head coach Phil Bennett gets his wish of redshirting nearly all of his freshmen) was safety Tyler Jones. Admittedly, it was just drills, but he runs and jumps very well, and seems to accelerate very quickly after changing direction.
• The team spent quite a while running a drill in which they isolate the running game. The QB either gives the ball to the RB or keeps it himself, and while the ball carrier is never hit very hard -- basically the linemen work on their blocking technique, and as soon as the defense gets to the ball carrier, the play's over. Several RBs looked good, but one who particularly stood out was James Mapps. The reports about this guy's elusiveness are not exagerrated. Very quick, very slippery -- Mapps is a whirling dervish with the ball. His array of cuts and spin moves, even in heavy traffic at the line of scrimmage, is very impressive.

[SMUguy]

Thanks for the report, Pride

[smupony]

Great report! Thanks!

[GrapevineMustang]

If Gonzalez is lean at 305, it sounds like he's built in the Darrin Johnson mold, or at least Kenard Burley.

I'll take a line full of guys built like that.

[DiamondM]

One small tidbit is that Thomas Morestead, in addition to having a good leg, is a one-step drop punter, which should decrease the liklihood of blocked punts, which we unfortunately have not been a stranger to the last couple of years.

I didn't learn this from watching pratice on an August afternoon though -- I'm not crazy like Pony Pride.

[BringBackThePonies03]

Pony Pride great review, is DeMyron Martin really 235 pounds. If he has retained all speed and mobility and put on 15-25 pounds in the process then that is quite impressive.

GO PONIES!!!

[PonyPride]

.... I'm not crazy like Pony Pride.

I'm starting to think you're right.

.... Pony Pride great review, is DeMyron Martin really 235 pounds. If he has retained all speed and mobility and put on 15-25 pounds in the process then that is quite impressive.

I don't know if he's really 235, but that's the number that keeps getting thrown around by several members of the coaching staff. Whatever the actually total is, he looks substantially heavier and stronger than last year. At this time a year ago, he was a tall, kind of lanky RB. There's nothing lanky about the guy now. His arms look almost as big as my legs, but with actual muscle instead of "sports writer muscle." I also didn't get a chance to see him do much before I had to get my broiling carcass off the field, but several of his teammates have told me he's "noticeably faster" than last year. If that's the case, and with his pile-driver running style .... let's keep our fingers crossed, huh?