Notes From Day 7 of Spring Ball (Scrimmage)
CHESTNUT HILL - There was a ton of buzz inside Fish Field House on Saturday morning.
The Eagles hit the (close-to) halfway point of spring ball with practice No. 7. It was another productive, physical, fast two-hour session with recruits and coaches fully lining both sidelines and even wrapping around the end zones a bit.
This was a one hour normal practice followed by about an hour of live scrimmaging with full pads - although guys weren't completely smoking each other. As usual, here's everything I saw during the session:
-Receivers first in at 10:39. Every spring session so far receivers have gotten blocking and catching work in for at least 15-20 minutes before any other group does anything.
-TC leads the QB's in at 10:43, RB's and DL in at 10:45
-Usual walkthrough stuff and indy periods with a quick team stretch the first half hour or so. Spotted Bryce Steele in a yellow non-contact jersey during D walkthrough. Good to see him working his way back after dealing with a health issue last season
-Texas drill on one end and 7-on-7 on the other at 11:39. Actually got my head out of my ass and stood down by the offense this time. Nice PBU from KP Price against Franklin, quick crosser to Skeete, short pass to Bond. PBU for Ryan Turner on Jayden McGowan. Nice grab on a crosser from Dino from James, wasn't the last time we'd hear from that combo...
-Zamor had a ridiculous diving grab towards the end of the period too. I'll keep saying it til I'm blue, this receiver room is loaded
-Scrimmage started a few minutes before noon.
1st drive: Slant to Bond and then a ridiculous one-handed interception from Jackson on his knees on a tipped ball from TC. That's back-to-back practices where Jackson has had electric INT's. Kid is unquestionably CB1 with Tucker 1A right now. Bradley beat Jackson on a slant one or two snaps later and grabbed a dart from TC, if iron truly sharpens iron both the WR's and DB's are getting some phenomenal work in already. Ward has looked good and had a nice run followed by a huge 35ish yard catch and run from Bradley to set up 1st-&-G. Little pop pass to Bond for the TD after.a short Kye run, Liam Connor had the PAT.
-2nd drive with James: Broome with a tough ass run for a good chunk on the first snap, short scramble for James, deep crosser to Reed Harris down to the 35ish. Two snaps later, James laid an absolute dime into the bucket for Dino in the right corner of the end zone with two defenders there. Had to be the best play of camp so far, offensive sideline and players on the field went nuts. Connor Lytton hit the PAT.
-Offense stalled with Reueve, but my sneaky favorite player of camp so far showed up again as Wes Welker - Luke McLaughlin - blocked a punt. Have to find a way to get him on the field in certain spots.
-TC and the 1's back out for the 4th drive with the ball put at the 50: Quiet this time, nice run early for Ward, but PBU from Carter Davis on the sideline forces punt. Nice punt from Sam Stone, dropping it at the 6-yard line.
-Ball put at the 50 again for James' next drive. Run stuff for Owen McGowan, great pocket movement from James before hitting Franklin for a short gain. Another nice run from Broome, this time after a catch on the sideline, then a toss to Broome for another nice gain. Liam Connor booted a 39-yard field goal.
-During the 8th drive with the 3's Emmett Morehead came up behind me and scared the bejesus out of me before saying what's up. Great kid though, hope he lands somewhere soon. Was told the greatest backup in CFB history Dennis Grosel was in the building too but didn't see him.
-Offense limited to a few plays on purpose the next few drives. TC hit Bond for a quick gain to start drive No. 7. Jackson blanketed Skeete with some great coverage on a deep corner before both kickers tried from 50. Liam Connor went wide left while Connor Lytton got his over the cross bar by about three yards.
-Couple drives later the 1's were back out and TC hit Skeete on a deep corner, scrambled for what would have been like a 30+ yard gain. Later on with backups McLaughlin had a sick catch over the middle and Owen Stoudmire had a 'sack.'
-Ball was placed inside the 10 for the next few minutes. Short TD catch from Kye, sick throw and catch for TC and Ward in the back right corner. Ezeiruaku flew off the edge for a sack. James hit McGowan on a crosser for a short TD. With Reuve in the defense was dominant, stuffing three runs.
-Gaol-to-go situation on the other end. Kye had a 4-yard TD catch on '3rd & 6' and McDonald had a short TD catch from James.
-Eagles worked on being backed up inside their own five after this, making sure to hit every situation. Jackson had a great PBU on a deep ball against Bradley, impressive watching those two in particular go at it.
-Before springs wrapped up the day BC worked on tempo near midfield for about 10 minutes. Broome had another huge run at one point and Neto Okpala had a would-be sack. Anthony Fuccillo popped again with some nice running and Matt Ragan had a wide open TD from James (might've been Reuve now that I think about it) from about 10 yards out.
BC is back at it on Tuesday for practice No. 8 of the 15 this spring.