Practice (8/6/12) report

[PonyPride]

• Players who sat out of drills, or at least were limited to light conditioning, included OG Jordan Free, LB Robert Parker, OT Taylor Reich and OL Chuey Chamagua. Free and Reich did some running on the side with members of the SMU training staff. Free seemed to be moving more easily than Reich, who was laboring a little, but he got through his running and did some offensive line drills in which he lines up in front of a mock defensive lineman and has to move side to side in order to mirror the movements of the defender.

• With Free out, Blake McJunkin worked with the first-team line at left guard after playing center prior to this season and filling in at right guard during spring drills. The entire first-team offensive line consisted of LT Ben Gottschalk, LG McJunkin, C Taylor Lasecki, RG Bryan Collins and RT Stavion Lowe.

• S A.J. Justice left the practice field early with what he called a pulled left hamstring. He said the injury did not seem serious or put him at risk of missing extended time, but he added that he will not take part in Tuesday's workout because he will be getting his left wrist checked. Justice had surgery in May to repair a broken scaphoid bone.

• Overall, the receivers had a much better day than they did Saturday, when many were plagued by drops of catchable passes. Austin Fuller stood out again, making a pair of nice one-handed snags of passes thrown over his head. Arrius Holleman underscored the notion that height can’t be taught, leaping high over helpless DBs to spare a pair of passes that otherwise would have ended up sailing out of bounds. Some of the best receptions, though, were turned in when the defense split up to have a defense facing a mock offense, when "WR" Ajee Montes made a pair of very impressive, one-handed receptions.

• OT Stavion Lowe has been working his way back from a pulled hamstring that slowed his conditioning running. He worked at right tackle with the first-team offensive line Monday and looked like he was moving well, both when running straight ahead and laterally. He even engaged in the same drill (mentioned above with Reich) in which he is called upon to move side to side in order to stay in front of a defender, and didn't appear to be suffering any major discomfort.

• The starters at the Mustangs' deepest position - linebacker - are no surprise to anyone, with Ja'Gared Davis and Stephon Sanders outside, and Taylor Reed and Cameron Rogers inside. The second unit Monday had Kevin Pope and Randall Joyner inside, with Rob Seals and Cody Worthen outside.

• As expected, QB Garrett Gilbert is taking the first snaps with the first-team offense. When the offense went to skeleton (against no defense) drills, the quarterbacks rotated. No depth chart has been determined, but for what it's worth, Conner Preston took the second snaps, followed by Garrett Krstich and Neal Burcham.

• OLB Rob Seals opened some eyes last season as a member of the scout team, largely because of his exceptional speed. But apparently he has spent considerable time in the weight room, as he looks significantly bulked up (the roster says he's up to 230 pounds now, but that might be light) and ran right through several blockers Monday.

• The defensive play of the day was turned in by backup CB Blake Poston, who jumped up and wrestled a pass away from WR Jeremy Johnson for an interception.

[Alaric]

Thanks as always for the great reporting. Isnt Taylor Reed a senior? He's listed on the official roster as a junior.

[PonyPride]

Yup - Taylor Reed is a senior.

[ponyscott]

Good job...thanks. I was amazed at the depth of the WR position. And they were catching everything in site yesterday.

[BUS]

Thanks from me also. Nice to get good information when I can't watch for myself.

[PonyPlayer4]

These reports being posted are what I look forward to every day!

[Mustangsabu]

These reports being posted are what I look forward to every day!

I second that!