Thursday (3/28/13) practice report
Posted: Thu Mar 28, 2013 1:31 pm
The Mustangs were split up again Thursday, with the offense working on the turf inside Gerald J. Ford Stadium, and the defense working outside on the Pettus practice field.
• SMU head coach June Jones said Monday that he could see immediately that senior-to-be Kenneth Acker has a chance to be a very effective receiver, and all indications are that Jones is right. It’s no secret that Acker is fast, but he also is showing very soft hands (when running toward the quarterback or away), the ability to go up and snatch a pass at the highest possible point, as he does on defense, and adjusts very well to the ball in flight.
• Another WR who looked good Thursday was A.J. Buffini, a walk-on from Escondido, Calif., who will be a redshirt freshman in the fall. Buffini is very quick, changes directions quickly and has pretty good hands. At one point in passing drills, he tipped a ball and pinned it to his back with one hand before pulling it in, and later leaped to make a nice, twisting catch of a ball that was thrown a little bit behind him.
• Not every receiver had a great day - there were some dropped passes, although not any alarmingly drops of passes that appeared they should be caught easily.
• New WRs Nate Halverson and Deion Sanders appear faster than advertised. In skeleton (no defense) passing drills, both were able to track deep passes and find another gear to get under them to make the catch.
• One of the best catches of the day was turned in by RB K.C. Nlemchi, who turned upfield for what should have been a routine swing pass. But when the pass was thrown too far in front of him, Nlemchi was able to lunge forward and snare it inches above the turf, regain his balance and race down the sideline.
• RBs as big as transfer Traylon Shead (listed at 6-2 and 225 pounds) often are assumed to be straight-ahead power runners who are able only to put their heads down and run through people. But the former Texas Longhorn and JUCO star changes directions much more quickly than might be expected.
• Offensive tackle Chauncey Briggs has lost a lot of weight - he was listed last year at 330 pounds, but has worked his way down to about 295 pounds. The work has paid off, as the slimmed-down Briggs is now working with the first-team offense at right tackle.
• Backup tackle Taylor Reich didn’t dress for practice (although he stood in as a mock defender in certain drills) because of an apparent reinjuring of his surgically repaired right ankle. Reich tore ligaments in the ankle in the final 2012 spring practice, and said he thinks the pin that doctors inserted in the joint might be broken.
"It’s frustrating," he said. "I want to try to play through it, if I can, but that depends on what the doctors say. I’m hoping to push surgery back until after the season, but I’ll find out more later this week.
"I can move around OK. It hurts, but I hope I can play with it. It’s not too bad when it’s taped up."
• Sophomore-to-be Ronnell Sims is closer to his comfort zone after being moved this spring from slot WR to RB, a decision that was encouraged by the vision of new assistant coach/passing game coordinator Hal Mumme.
"When I got here, I always joked about playing running back," Sims said. "But the coaches never moved me. Now Coach Mumme is here. When he was at McMurry (in Sims’ hometown of Abilene, Texas), he recruited me, and he wanted me to play running back. Now he’s here helping with the offense, so we’re trying it.
"I’m not a (complete) running back yet, I guess. I’m sort of a scatback. If I can learn the protections, then I can play full running back."
Sims said he last played running back when he was in sixth grade. After that, until he graduated high school, he played quarterback.
"I was always a running quarterback, so in a way, it’s kind of the same thing," he said. "I only have a couple of plays in now, but I’ll learn more as we go along. The first thing, though, is the protection.
"I have to learn how to use leverage and angles to kind of steer (defenders) one way or the other. They see me, and see that I’m smaller (Sims is listed at 5-8 and 185 pounds), and they’ll just try to bull-rush me. If I can learn to use leverage better, that will help. They don’t want me to take on linebackers head-on, because they’re going to be bigger than I am and they’re coming from a running start, while we (running backs) are standing still."
After playing quarterback for six years, Sims said he had made the adjustment to receiver, and will miss playing the position … at least for a while.
"I’ll kind of miss playing receiver now," he said. "I had to learn the position and get used to playing out there. But in the long run, I think I’ll enjoy playing running back even more. I’m more comfortable in the backfield."
• SMU head coach June Jones said Monday that he could see immediately that senior-to-be Kenneth Acker has a chance to be a very effective receiver, and all indications are that Jones is right. It’s no secret that Acker is fast, but he also is showing very soft hands (when running toward the quarterback or away), the ability to go up and snatch a pass at the highest possible point, as he does on defense, and adjusts very well to the ball in flight.
• Another WR who looked good Thursday was A.J. Buffini, a walk-on from Escondido, Calif., who will be a redshirt freshman in the fall. Buffini is very quick, changes directions quickly and has pretty good hands. At one point in passing drills, he tipped a ball and pinned it to his back with one hand before pulling it in, and later leaped to make a nice, twisting catch of a ball that was thrown a little bit behind him.
• Not every receiver had a great day - there were some dropped passes, although not any alarmingly drops of passes that appeared they should be caught easily.
• New WRs Nate Halverson and Deion Sanders appear faster than advertised. In skeleton (no defense) passing drills, both were able to track deep passes and find another gear to get under them to make the catch.
• One of the best catches of the day was turned in by RB K.C. Nlemchi, who turned upfield for what should have been a routine swing pass. But when the pass was thrown too far in front of him, Nlemchi was able to lunge forward and snare it inches above the turf, regain his balance and race down the sideline.
• RBs as big as transfer Traylon Shead (listed at 6-2 and 225 pounds) often are assumed to be straight-ahead power runners who are able only to put their heads down and run through people. But the former Texas Longhorn and JUCO star changes directions much more quickly than might be expected.
• Offensive tackle Chauncey Briggs has lost a lot of weight - he was listed last year at 330 pounds, but has worked his way down to about 295 pounds. The work has paid off, as the slimmed-down Briggs is now working with the first-team offense at right tackle.
• Backup tackle Taylor Reich didn’t dress for practice (although he stood in as a mock defender in certain drills) because of an apparent reinjuring of his surgically repaired right ankle. Reich tore ligaments in the ankle in the final 2012 spring practice, and said he thinks the pin that doctors inserted in the joint might be broken.
"It’s frustrating," he said. "I want to try to play through it, if I can, but that depends on what the doctors say. I’m hoping to push surgery back until after the season, but I’ll find out more later this week.
"I can move around OK. It hurts, but I hope I can play with it. It’s not too bad when it’s taped up."
• Sophomore-to-be Ronnell Sims is closer to his comfort zone after being moved this spring from slot WR to RB, a decision that was encouraged by the vision of new assistant coach/passing game coordinator Hal Mumme.
"When I got here, I always joked about playing running back," Sims said. "But the coaches never moved me. Now Coach Mumme is here. When he was at McMurry (in Sims’ hometown of Abilene, Texas), he recruited me, and he wanted me to play running back. Now he’s here helping with the offense, so we’re trying it.
"I’m not a (complete) running back yet, I guess. I’m sort of a scatback. If I can learn the protections, then I can play full running back."
Sims said he last played running back when he was in sixth grade. After that, until he graduated high school, he played quarterback.
"I was always a running quarterback, so in a way, it’s kind of the same thing," he said. "I only have a couple of plays in now, but I’ll learn more as we go along. The first thing, though, is the protection.
"I have to learn how to use leverage and angles to kind of steer (defenders) one way or the other. They see me, and see that I’m smaller (Sims is listed at 5-8 and 185 pounds), and they’ll just try to bull-rush me. If I can learn to use leverage better, that will help. They don’t want me to take on linebackers head-on, because they’re going to be bigger than I am and they’re coming from a running start, while we (running backs) are standing still."
After playing quarterback for six years, Sims said he had made the adjustment to receiver, and will miss playing the position … at least for a while.
"I’ll kind of miss playing receiver now," he said. "I had to learn the position and get used to playing out there. But in the long run, I think I’ll enjoy playing running back even more. I’m more comfortable in the backfield."
