Notes From Day 14 Of Spring Ball
CHESTNUT HILL - Finally.
Spring ball unofficially wrapped up with practice No. 14 on Thursday inside Fish. If it's gotten monotonous for me, I can't imagine how players must feel.
There is still the scrimmage/spring game on Saturday of course, but it's been a bit of a whirlwind for the program since O'Brien was hired and a deep breath is probably needed for everyone. After Saturday, the work certainly doesn't stop, but a nice little step back for a month or two before ramping up for training camp will be beneficial.
At the end of last week, I asked O'Brien about this week and he said it needed to continue trending upward. Well, if Tuesday was another step in the right direction, Thursday may have first little step back, at least for the hour-and-a-half I was there before heading out to cover some Pats stuff.
That's not to say it was a bad day, but the focus clearly wasn't what it's been throughout every single practice. There was a slight last day of school feel early on. The spring game will allow guys to 'lock in' for a close-to game day experience, but Thursday was bound to be different. O'Brien made sure guys woke up when they had to though.
Here's everything I saw until about 10:30...
-Tommy Castellanos didn't practice but was there and all smiles when i briefly crossed paths with him heading into Fish. Still no Kye, Broome or Bond, but all were present. Great news with Bond as he wasn't in a sling anymore. Gotta think if it was that bad it'd still be on.
-Some early FG work today. I was chatting with a few coaches and admittedly half-ass paying attention, but Lytton, Connor and Lombardo all had opportunities from different hashes from like 35-40 yards out. This might be the only position group where (seemingly) the starting job is up for grabs. If I had to lean one way I'd say Lytton may be working his way back to the kicker he was as a freshman at this point, but again, it's only April.
-9:15-9:45: Normal O and D walkthrough, open field angle work and an indy period for the OL and DL, another indy period for all positions and a stretch.
-First bit of team work at 9:50...
James: short pass Ward, short run (Ward I think), incomplete pass to Bradley over the middle.
Rueve: Incomplete intended for Matt Ragan, (missed the next play talking to a coach), short run for McDonald.
-It was at this point where O'Brien lit into the defense for pre-snap penalties, making them turn around and run from the end zone they were working near to the opposite one and back. O'Brien stressed how unacceptable the pre-snap stuff is (fans know it all too well the last few seasons) and told them there's no chance they beat FSU beating themselves. It just wasn't nearly as politely as the way I just wrote it.
-Robinson in...short run for Ferrucci (x2), short catch in the flat for Ferrucci, big run for Ferrucci.
-During this time, I saw Jackson Gugni rapid-fire long snapping next to me and it's impressive how accurate LS's can be sometimes.
-Little bit of team walkthrough (O and D separate) for a few minutes at 10:00 before 7-on-7 coming out of the end zone...
James: Short pass to Morales, catch in flat for Ward, nice PBU for Max Tucker on Skeete in a CM battle, quick pass to McDonald in the flat.
Robinson: short pass to Zamor, nice slant to Ragan, pick-six for Bugg Jones down the left sideline
Rueve: Two straight completions to Luke McLaughlin, Rueve scramble, dump off to McLaughlin
-Back to a full team period. Order amongst QB's was different again. Ultimately this was probably one of the best days the staff has had in terms of evaluating everyone behind Castellanos. Lot of reps for these guys...
Rueve: incomplete to Jayden McGowan, slant to McGowan, out to Franklin
James: slant to Reed Harris, completion over the middle to McLaughlin, nice toe-tap grab on the sideline by Zamor
Robinson: Slant to Nate Johnson, incompletion to Ferrucci, lap for an OL on a false start (up downs also took place like a snap or 2 later) and the period ended with a quick dump off to McDonald.
-Had to head out at this point. But, I was told that Phil Jurkovec was in the building today after I left. The tight end is looking for a shot in the NFL and (I assume) wanted to see if this staff with so many NFL ties could help him out at all. While those seasons were not the greatest introduction for me covering the program regularly, I'll always have a soft spot for him as the 1st Eagles QB I ever covered. I have a feeling we won't be hearing his name on Sundays though.
Quick thanks to everyone that's read these throughout the spring. Hopefully the style wasn't too awkward, it's just way easier than actually forming sentences with (usually) three pages of notes. As literally the only member of the media that was there every day, I took pride in that fact and hopefully you guys think my coverage between NEFJ and here is the most thorough in the region, because I do. This site has shown me how much of a college region this place can be if there's reason to pay attention and it's extremely motivating given how little coverage this program gets.
I'll have a full write up on the spring game Saturday night once I get back from the Holy Cross spring game. Hopefully I haven't overhyped these guys already for everyone, but as Hall of Fame wrestling announcer Jim Ross would say:
'Business is about to pick up.'