Notes From Day 6 Of Spring Ball
CHESTNUT HILL - Fast and physical.
That's what it's been for the first five days of BC spring ball and it remained that way on Thursday for practice No. 6. As usual, here's everything I saw...
-TC sprints out of Alumni right around 8:30 leading the QB's. First guy to practice followed by the receivers.
-Belmont Hill, Springfield Central and a few other schools represented by recruits and coaches on Friday. At one point during practice, kids with disabilities from The Community School were on hand to watch practice for a while, great to see Bill O'Brien and others interacting with the kids at times.
-The usual team walk through, some open field tackling drills and stretch for the first half hour or so.
-Second time I've seen them run the 'Texas' drill working on run blocking while DB's & WR"s went 1-on-1 on the other side. I spent most of the time with the defense again since we don't really spend much time on them compared to the O. Matt Ragan was impressive blocking through the whistle on one rep, getting after it pretty good. Nice jump cut to make a guy miss from Ward. Saw at least two fumbles during this period too as the defense was swarming all day. It was easily that side of the ball's best overall practice.
-Fumbles = pushups
-There was a lot of 'Disturbed' playing early on. I don't think I've heard 'Down With The Sickness' since like 2002 but it's still a good 'get fired up' song.
-Looked over to the offense to see Jackson come up with a diving INT on the sideline against Skeete. Guys on that side went nuts.
-First bit of team around 10:00. TC just misses Morales deep up the seam, Skeete crosser, fumble from Jordan McDonald (Khari Johnson recovery (I think), Good coverage from KP Price on Reed Harris deep, sick scramble from TC (almost ran me over on the sideline), Daveon Crouch (LB) stood out getting in the backfield almost immediately on back-to-back snaps. TC connects with Franklin up the seam, Broome continues to run his ass off whenever the ball is in his hands. I',m standing by my 'he's a home run hitter this year' take. Ezeiruaku had a would-be sack on Reuve late in the period.
-Walkthrough period. Saw Jerry York, Jaiden Woodbey, Kyle Hergel and Elijah Jones in the building, all getting ready for big day on Friday.
-Another live team period a few minutes later around 10:15. Skeete over the middle, Ezeiruaku would-be run stuff on the edge (whistle), couple quick hitters for Bond (he's such a problem to cover), Joe Marinaro flies around the edge to get a run stop with help from Owen Stoudmire. Broome breaks off a huge run late. Redshirt freshman Carter Davis had a nice PBU against Harris on the sideline. Tim Hays and Josiah Griffin fly to the ball carrier for a run stop.
-Indy before jumping into some 7-on-7. Bradley, Bond, Morales,
Franklin and Dino all had nice grabs during the session. Nice INT on the sideline from Bugg Jones.
-Tempo was a huge point of emphasis during the next full team period around 10:40. Couple nice runs from Ward, couple quick hitters for Bond all with TC in. James second snaps, had a nice scramble, got a couple nice runs from Jayden McGowan. Great PBU by Davis on a crosser against Harris. Big run for Datrell Jones with Reuve in, nice grab on a slant from freshman Montrelle Wade and a Khari leaping PBU ends the session.
-Special teams punt work for a few minutes.
-Red zone period. Ward continued to look shifty in small spaces. TC scrambled for a TD, Broome had a TD run and Franklin had a TD catch during TC's reps. With James in the offense struggled. Jones had a short TD run late with Reuve in.
-Lots of situational down-and-distance work to wrap up the day with the team bouncing back and forth between the red zone and mid field. Biggest 'ooooh' from everyone during the two hours came when Crouch met Broome in the hole with a loud thud almost immediately after a hand off.
-Sprints again at 11:15 to end another productive day
Day off for Pro Day before the first real scrimmage Saturday. Pending the forecast it's supposed to be in the stadium, but could be inside Fish.