Final spring practice observations, on and off the field

[MiracleOnMockingbird]

- J. J. McDermott-bashers got to see why Conner Preston, Stephen Kaiser and Garrett Krstich were not thrown into the fire last year. Looks like a good decision. Preston seems to have the strongest arm of the three.

- Rishaad Wimbley has really transformed his body. He looks like a running back now (though a particularly thick-thighed one) rather than a defensive lineman playing running back.

- Keenan Holman seems to have some bashers on these boards, but my prediction is that he will hold off his challengers for a starting job on the outside, and it does look like there will be some serious challengers.

- None of the offensive linemen look like the next Tony Boselli, but of course if they were that, they would have played last year. This group would seem to be the key to whether 2012 is a rebuilding year or not (I tend to think it is a rebuilding year).

- Derek Longoria is a bigger guy than I was expecting, perhaps because I had "punter" in my mind. It will be interesting to see how he develops as a defensive player.

- I believe this was the first time there's been a "live" scrimmage in this final spring practice in the June Jones era, though it was a second-team scrimmage. Whether this was meant to entertain fans or not, it had that effect.

- Judging by overheard chatter around me, every fan in the stands would have been a big football star if not for an injury or a coach who did not recognize greatness when he saw it. And the same is apparently true for all of the sons of every guy in the stands.

- It was not clear whether the blonde reporting live on the big screen was unable to put a sentence together, or whether a bad sound system swallowed some of her words. Regardless, as the NFL draft yesterday showed, if you have the right "measurables" you will usually get more chances to prove yourself than you otherwise would.

[Pony4Life]

Thanks for the update, Miracle.

Maybe we were sitting near each other? After all, the older I get, the better I was!

[Junior]

my team would have won state if coach had put me in in the fourth quarter. i could throw the football over those mountains over there.

[westexSMU]

Glad to here Coach Jones saying on the video after final spring practice that Cody Worthen is playing well at safety. Not sure what ranking he had out of high school with rivals, but I think he won the Houston Touchdown Club award as the top DB in the area his senior year.

[ponyte]

For those that have seen spring practices since Jones took over, has there been any change in the way the players approach spring ball? I wonder if consistently winning and having a chance at rankings and championship games has changed the business end of practice.

It sounds like the attitude of the fans has remained consistent for the last 50 or so years. You sure you weren't next to mrydel as he once again regaled us with his tale of how he was 5th in the Heisman voting his senior year (and it isn't true. He told me he was actually 7th on one of our Arkyland Express trips)?