Monday (4/1/13) practice report
Posted: Mon Apr 01, 2013 1:49 pm
The Mustangs continued the trend of splitting the offense and defense between team’s two facilities. Some notes from the defensive practice:
• CBs J.R. Richardson and Horace Richardson, each of whom suffered a season-ending knee injury in 2012 (J.R.’s was during preseason workouts), are both back in practice, and both are showing good mobility in drills. They both are building their strength back up, but they are taking part in virtually everything. In one position drill, DBs would line up two at a time, facing secondary coach/mock QB Derrick Odum, who would signal the direction the DBs should run - forward, backpedaling or side to side - by moving the ball. The morning grass was a little wet, and several DBs slipped and fell, but the fact that neither Richardson fell was notable. Coming back from knee injuries involves more than just working through the pain and regaining strength; players also have to regain their balance and confidence in the strength of the surgically repaired joint. Both Richardsons look like they’re on track to doing that.
• The defensive line has a very different look than in 2012. Granted, there aren’t a lot of guys of Margus Hunt’s size wandering the campus looking for something to do before breakfast, but overall, the unit is undeniably smaller. But the defensive coaches always have said they covet players with quickness, even over sheer size, and a few earned consistent praise for their burst at the snap of the ball during position drills. Among those who earned praise from DL coach Bert Hill were DE Cameron Smith (see below) and DE Spencer Conley.
• Former SMU CB Derrius Bell, now a graduate assistant coach, is taking on more of a teaching role. GAs normally start their careers learning from position coaches and coordinators, and Bell has been learning under Odum and defensive coordinator Tom Mason. But he took on an active teaching role in Monday’s drills, throwing passes to mock WRs as they ran routes down the sideline. The goal of the drill was to teach the DBs chasing the WRs to whip their heads around to see the ball while maintaining contact with the receiver and steering the receiver to the outside, essentially making the sideline into an extra defender. Bell was undersized but used the sideline effectively when he played. When a bigger CB like Chris Parks can use his size in front of a receiver and the sideline on the outside of the receiver, completing passes becomes much more difficult.
• Since their arrival at SMU, Mason has said big linebackers who can run have a chance to "make me a better coach" because of the plays they’re able to make. Some of the young linebackers are starting to fit the mold Mason described. Stephon Sanders, who will be a junior in the fall, now carries about 250 pounds on his frame. Fellow linebackers Robert Seals, Jonathan Yenga, Lincoln Richard and Jarvis Pruitt have added considerable bulk since last summer and look as fast, if not faster, than they did at the start of the 2012 season.
• Among those watching practice: 2013 signee William Barns (an offensive lineman from Highland Park) and Deion Sanders, Sr.
• The Brian Cramer working with the defensive line this spring looks nothing like the Brian Cramer who went home to Austin as a greyshirt in the fall after working out with the Mustangs last summer. More specifically, he looks like more of the player who signed with the Mustangs in February 2012 - about 45 pounds more.
"I’ve gained about 45 pounds - I was only about 225 last year, and I’m about 275 now, and I hope to be 280 or 285 by August," he said. "All I did was eat, lift and drink Muscle Milk three times a day. Red meat, pasta … I was eating about 5,000 calories per day." (A "normal" diet includes 1,500-2,000 calories per day.)
Cramer’s effort to add bulk was impeded by two factors: his high metabolism that caused him to burn up a lot of the calories he put in to himself and his running regimen that slowed his weight gain by improving his cardiovascular fitness.
"I was up at 5:30 in the morning every day to work out, because I had to get to my job, and then I’d run a couple of miles," Cramer said. "I ate as much as I could. Sometimes I’d eat a couple of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches at night just to keep my weight up."
While working to gain size, Cramer was spending the fall not playing football for the first time in years. To say he didn’t enjoy spending the season away from the sport would be an understatement.
"It was weird - it sucked," he said. "When the Hawaii Bowl came up on TV, it killed me to not be there. But it just made me work harder."
The newer, bigger Cramer is back where he wants to be - on the field with his Mustang teammates - and admits he returned to the Hilltop needing to lose some rust.
"That first practice last week was rough," he said. "I was pretty sore. But it’s coming back pretty quickly. I’m feeling better every day."
• Also back with the defensive line is DE Cameron Smith, who missed the 2012 season after undergoing surgery on the ball of his foot to remove scar tissue and bone spurs left over from a procedure he had done in 2011 during his senior year at McNeil High School in Austin. After his surgery, Smith was on crutches for a couple of weeks, and in a protective boot for about a month and a half.
He started light running in late October, which hurt less as he went along.
"It still hurt when I made contact - when you have someone leaning on you, you really need your toes to dig in (for a better grip)," he said. "It hurt for a little while on change-of-direction stuff, too. When I made quick, sharp turns, that hurt for a long time."
Smith acknowledged that the scar tissue and bone spurs in his foot might have resulted from him coming back too quickly from his first surgery.
"I had the first surgery when I was a senior in high school," he said. "I probably pushed it too fast; I came back and ran track (in the 4x100-that spring. Part of that was my fault, because I wanted to get to work to get ready to come (to SMU). But the doctors said I was ready to go, and I think my high school (track and football) coaches wanted to get a last piece out of me."
Smith acknowledged that he and the Mustangs will miss the four 2012 seniors on the defensive line - DEs Margus Hunt and Kevin Grenier and NTs Torlan Pittman and Aaron Davis - but said their departure doesn’t necessarily mean the defensive line will suffer a significant dropoff.
"They’re great players, and their leadership will be missed," Smith said. "But I don’t think we’ll see a huge dropoff on the football field. That’s the goal, anyway - to keep things where they were, or maybe even make them better.
"I’m not downing those guys - the reality is that as a group, we’re smaller than we were last year. But if we can match their level of success, the future of the defensive line is pretty bright."
• CBs J.R. Richardson and Horace Richardson, each of whom suffered a season-ending knee injury in 2012 (J.R.’s was during preseason workouts), are both back in practice, and both are showing good mobility in drills. They both are building their strength back up, but they are taking part in virtually everything. In one position drill, DBs would line up two at a time, facing secondary coach/mock QB Derrick Odum, who would signal the direction the DBs should run - forward, backpedaling or side to side - by moving the ball. The morning grass was a little wet, and several DBs slipped and fell, but the fact that neither Richardson fell was notable. Coming back from knee injuries involves more than just working through the pain and regaining strength; players also have to regain their balance and confidence in the strength of the surgically repaired joint. Both Richardsons look like they’re on track to doing that.
• The defensive line has a very different look than in 2012. Granted, there aren’t a lot of guys of Margus Hunt’s size wandering the campus looking for something to do before breakfast, but overall, the unit is undeniably smaller. But the defensive coaches always have said they covet players with quickness, even over sheer size, and a few earned consistent praise for their burst at the snap of the ball during position drills. Among those who earned praise from DL coach Bert Hill were DE Cameron Smith (see below) and DE Spencer Conley.
• Former SMU CB Derrius Bell, now a graduate assistant coach, is taking on more of a teaching role. GAs normally start their careers learning from position coaches and coordinators, and Bell has been learning under Odum and defensive coordinator Tom Mason. But he took on an active teaching role in Monday’s drills, throwing passes to mock WRs as they ran routes down the sideline. The goal of the drill was to teach the DBs chasing the WRs to whip their heads around to see the ball while maintaining contact with the receiver and steering the receiver to the outside, essentially making the sideline into an extra defender. Bell was undersized but used the sideline effectively when he played. When a bigger CB like Chris Parks can use his size in front of a receiver and the sideline on the outside of the receiver, completing passes becomes much more difficult.
• Since their arrival at SMU, Mason has said big linebackers who can run have a chance to "make me a better coach" because of the plays they’re able to make. Some of the young linebackers are starting to fit the mold Mason described. Stephon Sanders, who will be a junior in the fall, now carries about 250 pounds on his frame. Fellow linebackers Robert Seals, Jonathan Yenga, Lincoln Richard and Jarvis Pruitt have added considerable bulk since last summer and look as fast, if not faster, than they did at the start of the 2012 season.
• Among those watching practice: 2013 signee William Barns (an offensive lineman from Highland Park) and Deion Sanders, Sr.
• The Brian Cramer working with the defensive line this spring looks nothing like the Brian Cramer who went home to Austin as a greyshirt in the fall after working out with the Mustangs last summer. More specifically, he looks like more of the player who signed with the Mustangs in February 2012 - about 45 pounds more.
"I’ve gained about 45 pounds - I was only about 225 last year, and I’m about 275 now, and I hope to be 280 or 285 by August," he said. "All I did was eat, lift and drink Muscle Milk three times a day. Red meat, pasta … I was eating about 5,000 calories per day." (A "normal" diet includes 1,500-2,000 calories per day.)
Cramer’s effort to add bulk was impeded by two factors: his high metabolism that caused him to burn up a lot of the calories he put in to himself and his running regimen that slowed his weight gain by improving his cardiovascular fitness.
"I was up at 5:30 in the morning every day to work out, because I had to get to my job, and then I’d run a couple of miles," Cramer said. "I ate as much as I could. Sometimes I’d eat a couple of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches at night just to keep my weight up."
While working to gain size, Cramer was spending the fall not playing football for the first time in years. To say he didn’t enjoy spending the season away from the sport would be an understatement.
"It was weird - it sucked," he said. "When the Hawaii Bowl came up on TV, it killed me to not be there. But it just made me work harder."
The newer, bigger Cramer is back where he wants to be - on the field with his Mustang teammates - and admits he returned to the Hilltop needing to lose some rust.
"That first practice last week was rough," he said. "I was pretty sore. But it’s coming back pretty quickly. I’m feeling better every day."
• Also back with the defensive line is DE Cameron Smith, who missed the 2012 season after undergoing surgery on the ball of his foot to remove scar tissue and bone spurs left over from a procedure he had done in 2011 during his senior year at McNeil High School in Austin. After his surgery, Smith was on crutches for a couple of weeks, and in a protective boot for about a month and a half.
He started light running in late October, which hurt less as he went along.
"It still hurt when I made contact - when you have someone leaning on you, you really need your toes to dig in (for a better grip)," he said. "It hurt for a little while on change-of-direction stuff, too. When I made quick, sharp turns, that hurt for a long time."
Smith acknowledged that the scar tissue and bone spurs in his foot might have resulted from him coming back too quickly from his first surgery.
"I had the first surgery when I was a senior in high school," he said. "I probably pushed it too fast; I came back and ran track (in the 4x100-that spring. Part of that was my fault, because I wanted to get to work to get ready to come (to SMU). But the doctors said I was ready to go, and I think my high school (track and football) coaches wanted to get a last piece out of me."
Smith acknowledged that he and the Mustangs will miss the four 2012 seniors on the defensive line - DEs Margus Hunt and Kevin Grenier and NTs Torlan Pittman and Aaron Davis - but said their departure doesn’t necessarily mean the defensive line will suffer a significant dropoff.
"They’re great players, and their leadership will be missed," Smith said. "But I don’t think we’ll see a huge dropoff on the football field. That’s the goal, anyway - to keep things where they were, or maybe even make them better.
"I’m not downing those guys - the reality is that as a group, we’re smaller than we were last year. But if we can match their level of success, the future of the defensive line is pretty bright."