Notes From Day 10 Of Spring Ball
CHESTNUT HILL - After five days off for the Easter break, BC was back at it inside Fish Field House on Tuesday morning.
BC has just two practices left this week (Thursday/Saturday) and then two more next week (Tuesday/Thursday) before the spring game at Alumni on 4/13.
As usual, here's everything I saw/wrote down for the two-hour session...
-DL & WR's head out of Alumni & make the walk over at 8:31, QB's in a few minutes later
-Once again a ton of recruits on hand. Saw Milford (MA), Berglen Catholic and Bishop Hendricken represented.
-Various walkthrough periods, stretching, ball security (DL worked on stripping QB and recovering the ball) and Indy from 9:10-9:38. You could definitely tell that the team had been off for five days for a big chunk of the day, energy was much lower than it had been until the final team period which got VERY intense. More on that later...
-Little bit of 7-on-7 after that. Highlight of the quick period was a great play from Amari Jackson on a deep post to Tomlin. Tomlin hauled it in (dime from TC) but Jackson stayed with it and ripped it out at the last second in the back of the end zone. TC also had another great deep throw to Skeete as well. The OL worked on double team blocks during this time.
-Little more indy period walk through for five-ish minutes before the first bit of full team work at 10:05.
TC drive: Short pass to Morales, fumbled handoff exchange recovered by Okpala, run for Ward, great PBU on a deep ball to Bradley by KP Price, getting up to knock it away.
James drive: Screen for Dino (might've been like a 70-yard TD if it was truly live), Jayden McGowan catch over the middle (Victor Nelson could've decapitated him if it was a game), short run for McGowan, quick pass to Ferrucci in the flat. Rueve closed out the period with a couple short throws, nothing crazy.
-Kickoff work for a few, OL & DL went outside and FG team worked on kicks.
-Back to another brief team period for 10 minutes. Three straight passes to Bond, another great PBU for Jackson (he's looked like a No. 1 corner since Day 1). With James in Jalen Cheek had excellent coverage against Reed Harris on a deep ball and Carter Davis had one on the sideline aganst Matt Ragan. With Reueve in for a drive Owen Stoudmire had a would-be sack.
-10:32-10:40 four plays each for TC, James and Jacobee Robinson in 7-on-7. TC went incomplete to Bond, flat to Datrell Jones, (no Robichaux or Broome today), short pass to Ward, incomplete to Bond. James went shallow crosser to Harris, short pass to McGowan, to quick throws to Nate Johnson III. Robinson: two completions to Luke McLaughlin and one to Ismael Zamor.
-Punt work for a few minutes.
-Things finally ramped up and felt like they had throughout the first few weeks when 20 minutes went up on the clock at 10:48 and another team period commenced with tempo stressed.
1st TC drive: Run stuff for George Rooks, short pass to Ward, incomplete to Morales, short run for Jones, slant to Bond, out to Bradley, two more runs from Jones.
James drive: Bad snap leads to run stuff (couldn't see who), quick catch for McDonald, dart to the sideline complete to Franklin, drop in the bucket to Dino down the sideline, short run for McDonald.
-Ball then placed at the 50, one's back out.
TC: Run stuff for (I think) Nigel Tate, incomplete to Ward, incomplete over the middle to Bond, short run (Jones I think), screen to Bond...at this point BOB ripped into guys for not paying attention to substitution instructions with some earmuff words. Next play TC dropped a dime to Bond just shy of the left pylon from about 35 yards out with Jalon Williams in coverage.
Reueve took the next snaps: Run for Jones, incomplete short to McGowan, would-be sack for Edwin Kolenge, toss to Jones, two short throws to McGowan and McGowan.
-Ball now placed at the opponents' 18 yard line.
TC: Scramble for TC, Ezeiruaku run stuff, Jackson jump ball PBU against Bradley in the end zone. Price was there too and let Bradley hear about it. This is when things really started to pick up over the next few minutes with the offense and defense jawing back and forth with a couple shoves after plays thrown in.
-Ball now at the 10, physicality continues to intensify. Horsely smokes Ward in the hole, more chirping between the big guys up front. 6-yard TD run for Jones, incomplete pass in the flat by TC with the ball at the 3.
-Ball at the 18, James in. Harris dropped a TD in the back of the end zone, defensive sideline let him hear about it. Short run for McDonald, incomplete pass in the back of the end zone intended for Dino, short catch for Harris.
-1st & Goal at the 10, no time outs, 10 seconds left.
TC: Incomplete pass (coverage), Price smokes Bond on a quick pass, ball jarred loose. Huge roar erupts on the D sideline, incomplete pass out of the end zone (Applebaum not happy with OL at this point & rips into them. With James in, Sione Hala levels McGowan on another short pass, D sideline goes nuts again. Incomplete out of the back of the end zone, more chirping and O'Brien calls for sprints to wrap up the day at 11:17.
All in all it was pretty much what you'd expect for a practice when the team was off for five days. O'Brien talked to the team after and delivered a message of unity once they left the field. The intensity is great, but can't carry over outside of the white lines. Good message any coach would give his team. Eagles are back at it again on Thursday and will try to get some work inside the stadium on Saturday.