Practice (8/4/12) report
Posted: Sat Aug 04, 2012 1:25 pm
The Mustangs gathered Saturday morning for the first preseason practice of the 2012 season on the Pettus practice field. Some obervations:
• QB Garrett Gilbert took his first snaps in a blue SMU jersey. He looked fairly comfortable running plays. During optional seven-on-seven drills over the summer, he showed exceptional accuracy and velocity, and that carried over to Saturday’s practice, although he never threw a deep ball all day. On short and intermediate routes - including a heavy dose of drop-offs over the line and on screen plays - his passes were very accurate, whether he threw hard or took a little off to drop the ball into the receivers’ hands.
• The first-team receivers were no surprise to anyone: Darius Johnson and Jeremy Johnson in the slots, with Der’Rikk Thompson and Keenan Holman on the outside. The second unit, at least during the first passing drills of the day, consisted of Cole Loftin, Stephen Nelson, Ryan Walker and Gehrig Dieter. The third unit, at least initially, was Darius Joseph, Arrius Holleman, Marcus Holyfield and Daijuan Stewart. By the end of the day, Stewart and Joseph took some snaps with the second unit.
• The quarterbacks and receivers did skeleton drills only, never running a play against defense.
• WR Austin Fuller is an interesting player, because he presents some unusual matchup possibilities. Bigger receivers usually play on the outside, but listed at 6-2 and a stout 220 pounds, Fuller is the only receiver listed above 6 feet tall who played in the slot Saturday, and he turned a pair of exceptional one-handed catches.
• WR Arrius Holleman is very smooth for a big receiver. He shifts direction with no discernable change in speed, gets in and out of his breaks cleanly, is very fluid when leaping for high passes and has very soft hands, even when fielding passes that are thrown hard.
• No depth chart has been set yet, and there’s no reason to believe that today’s drills were an indication of the coaches’ opinions at most positions. Nonetheless, it was notable that in some of the passing drills in the latter stages of the workout, the first two QBs to take snaps were Gilbert and freshman Neal Burcham. It could be that the coaches simply wanted to get extra reps for the Ponies’ two new passers.
• When he signed with SMU, freshman WR Daijuan Stewart drew raves for his obvious speed, but if his first day is any indication, he might be more of a football player who happens to be fast, rather than a sprinter trying to catch passes. Stewart’s speed is beyond question, but he also showed impressive burst when he changed direction and excellent hands.
• Two walk-on receivers, Aaron Stafford and A.J. Buffini, stood out Saturday. Stafford evokes images of former SMU star Cole Beasley, and not just because of his height (5-9) or blond hair - he has a similar quickness and showed very good hands Saturday. Buffini is taller (6-0) and has long arms, excellent speed and runs very crisp routes.
• Maybe it’s a Waco thing: Washington Redskins rookie Robert Griffin III’s penchant for wearing colorful socks - whether at the Heisman Trophy ceremony, the NFL Draft or on the practice field - brought him almost as much attention as winning the Heisman (OK, maybe not). Now S Shakiel Randolph showed up at his first practice as a member of the Mustangs wearing Betty Boop socks.
• One of the best sights of the day was seeing RB Jared Williams running on the side under the watch of the training staff. Williams has not yet been cleared to resume practicing, but he looked like he was moving well, and said he felt good.
• OG Jordan Free sat out Saturday’s practice, although no explanation was immediately available.
• Saturday’s practice marked the first for new SMU graduate assistants Derrius Bell, Tommy Poynter, Timmy Chang and Marcus Riley.
• Stopping by Saturday’s practice was former OG Kelly Turner.
Special thanks to PonyFan JasonB for contributing to this report.
• QB Garrett Gilbert took his first snaps in a blue SMU jersey. He looked fairly comfortable running plays. During optional seven-on-seven drills over the summer, he showed exceptional accuracy and velocity, and that carried over to Saturday’s practice, although he never threw a deep ball all day. On short and intermediate routes - including a heavy dose of drop-offs over the line and on screen plays - his passes were very accurate, whether he threw hard or took a little off to drop the ball into the receivers’ hands.
• The first-team receivers were no surprise to anyone: Darius Johnson and Jeremy Johnson in the slots, with Der’Rikk Thompson and Keenan Holman on the outside. The second unit, at least during the first passing drills of the day, consisted of Cole Loftin, Stephen Nelson, Ryan Walker and Gehrig Dieter. The third unit, at least initially, was Darius Joseph, Arrius Holleman, Marcus Holyfield and Daijuan Stewart. By the end of the day, Stewart and Joseph took some snaps with the second unit.
• The quarterbacks and receivers did skeleton drills only, never running a play against defense.
• WR Austin Fuller is an interesting player, because he presents some unusual matchup possibilities. Bigger receivers usually play on the outside, but listed at 6-2 and a stout 220 pounds, Fuller is the only receiver listed above 6 feet tall who played in the slot Saturday, and he turned a pair of exceptional one-handed catches.
• WR Arrius Holleman is very smooth for a big receiver. He shifts direction with no discernable change in speed, gets in and out of his breaks cleanly, is very fluid when leaping for high passes and has very soft hands, even when fielding passes that are thrown hard.
• No depth chart has been set yet, and there’s no reason to believe that today’s drills were an indication of the coaches’ opinions at most positions. Nonetheless, it was notable that in some of the passing drills in the latter stages of the workout, the first two QBs to take snaps were Gilbert and freshman Neal Burcham. It could be that the coaches simply wanted to get extra reps for the Ponies’ two new passers.
• When he signed with SMU, freshman WR Daijuan Stewart drew raves for his obvious speed, but if his first day is any indication, he might be more of a football player who happens to be fast, rather than a sprinter trying to catch passes. Stewart’s speed is beyond question, but he also showed impressive burst when he changed direction and excellent hands.
• Two walk-on receivers, Aaron Stafford and A.J. Buffini, stood out Saturday. Stafford evokes images of former SMU star Cole Beasley, and not just because of his height (5-9) or blond hair - he has a similar quickness and showed very good hands Saturday. Buffini is taller (6-0) and has long arms, excellent speed and runs very crisp routes.
• Maybe it’s a Waco thing: Washington Redskins rookie Robert Griffin III’s penchant for wearing colorful socks - whether at the Heisman Trophy ceremony, the NFL Draft or on the practice field - brought him almost as much attention as winning the Heisman (OK, maybe not). Now S Shakiel Randolph showed up at his first practice as a member of the Mustangs wearing Betty Boop socks.
• One of the best sights of the day was seeing RB Jared Williams running on the side under the watch of the training staff. Williams has not yet been cleared to resume practicing, but he looked like he was moving well, and said he felt good.
• OG Jordan Free sat out Saturday’s practice, although no explanation was immediately available.
• Saturday’s practice marked the first for new SMU graduate assistants Derrius Bell, Tommy Poynter, Timmy Chang and Marcus Riley.
• Stopping by Saturday’s practice was former OG Kelly Turner.
Special thanks to PonyFan JasonB for contributing to this report.
