Weather: absolutely gorgeous.
Crowd: nice. Well in excess of 200 with 175 solid throughout.
Coaches: Very spirited. No doubt who is in control. One does not want coach to tell him to take a knee. Taking a knee consists of hauling a shot put sized weight around the football field. Wearing a yellow jersey doesn't look like too much fun either. I don't know who is keeping tabs on that kind of stuff, but they are doing their job.
Practice pace: nice flow. There was a lot of movement from one drill to another. switching from offensive & defensive situations to special teams & back to situational football.
Players: Please don't be offended if you have a friend, son of a friend, or son on the team & I failed to mention them. From my very limited view point on the sideline I did manage to see some standout players today.
1) QB: Number 17 is by far the best QB. He has the speed & confidence to play QB at the highest level & when he was on the field it was an electric feeling in the crowd. He did everything well & was the best athelete & fastest player on the field. This guy definitely deserves playing time & for my money will be the starter this year & possibly conference player of the year.
Number 7 was ok. He threw the ball pretty well & looked good at times.
Number 2 was more unsure of himself & the offense. He has talent & may develop, but this job belongs to 17. Can you say Brian Mitchell or better?
2) Offensive line: Number 72 is potential all conference & future NFL player. He has the size, speed, & lateral movement & attitude to play at the next level. He does need to focus & remember that there are people watching him on every play & therefore there are no plays off.
Number 71 is a solid center & could be an all conference or honorable mention player. Overall, the offensive line looked pretty good & should be a strong suit of this team.
3) Recievers: number 83 looks to be the best reciever we have. Tight end is a solid position & the guys we have all seem to be solid run blockers & good pass catching TEs.
4) RBs: Number 6 is our best RB. There isn't much depth there & I'm not even going to talk about number 20.
5) Defensive Line: This was just as I suspected. We have no interior DL. I am not trying to hurt anyone's feelings, but straight up, Justin Hamilton better be able to step up & play day one, because we have as many 3 technique DLs as we do true centers on the basketball team.
Number 93 looked pretty good at times playing 5 technique & could be a pretty solid D end. Number 44 has some potenetial to be an all conference or honorable mention, but must not overcommit to ball fakes.
6) Number 21 is just a good overachieving ML. he is a little small & with no interior lineman to keep him clean, he will have his hands full & health will become an issue for him, but he has good range & tackling skills & never takes a play off.
7) Corner & safety: No comment on safeties except to say that our perimeter defense was the best part of the defense I saw on the field today.
Number 5 is one hell of a football player. He is cocky, arrogant, funny, & oh BTW, he can play. No doubt, he has the stuff to be all conference & a possible future NFL player & he doesn't mind letting you know it either. I really like this guy.
No comment on punting, but the back up kicker looked very good.
Now these are just observations from an average joe with a bad sideline view from one practice, so please post any other observations, but don't hate on the messenger too badly.