CHESTNUT HILL - The last two weeks, Tuesday practices - the one open practice for the media each week - had been fairly light and there wasn't much entertainment value from a media standpoint.

That certainly was not the case this week.

For two hours, Bill O'Brien made sure the team and his staff understood the importance of being locked in. It was arguably the loudest and most vocal he's been since training camp. Any lapses in effort or execution - players or coaches - was met with colorful language. We can't quote O'Brien exactly, but let your imagination run wild, it's probably pretty accurate.

That's not to say guys were aloof and just sort of floating around. Energy was high, but with the bar and standard now so much higher - especially during Red Bandanna Week and a primetime game against a Big 10 opponent coming - O'Brien made sure everyone knew just how important every single minute of preparation mattered.

Here's everything I saw for the two hour session...

-Indy period to start, then some walkthrough reps for the O and D, stretch and another indy period.

-At this point, I noticed a No. 8 with the linebackers going through some of the drills. I did a double take and looked at the roster to make sure, but sure enough, it was Jaylen Blackwell. He didn't participate in any team stuff and worked with strength coaches throughout the day, but when I asked O'Brien about him after practice, he said he'd expect Blackwell to be on the field this season (just not this week). Obviously, this would be a huge addition to the defense as he works his way back from an achilles injury.

-Bowry looked good during team periods. James did as well. Feels like this is the healthiest the team has been since the early days of camp.

-Spotted Panthers and Packers scouts on hand. Packers scout spent a lot of time looking at the D-linemen during individual drills.

-It wasn't just O'Brien emphasizing the little things. The entire staff was really on guys throughout the practice and it started early on.

-During early team work TC had a great bomb to McGowan. Hope it's a sign of things to come with him being more involved.

-Kickoff and punt return work up next, particularly working on downing the ball inside the 10. I asked O'Brien after practice about the punters and kickers and he said they're comfortable with all of the guys. Not sure what that means moving forward, but he also acknowledged they need to be better in the punting game. Even though Lombardo hasn't kicked a FG in his life yet, O'Brien said they're confident in him and Liam based on kicks in practice in 'pressure situations.' We'll see. I think we all know it's going to come down to a late game FG at some point.

-Top O and top D worked against scout team with cards a bit later on in practice to get MSU prep rolling.

-Little bit of 7-on-7 around 10:45, TC had completions to Skeete, Turbo and Bond. Turner had a nice PBU on a ball to the sidelines. Robinson also had a dime for a TD deep-ish (35/40 yards?) to the back left pylon for Nate Johnson.

-During more team work O'Brien had Lewis and Lawing start a period over.

-Josiah Griffin had a SICK one-handed INT on a screen from James. Like, ESPN -Top 10 worthy.

-TC had a deep dime for a TD to Harris in the back right corner during a late team period.

-Scary moment late in practice as both Drew Kendall and Taylor went down on the same play. Didn't see what happened, but saw them both pissed on the ground next to each other. Applebaum wasn't happy. They eventually both got up and did conditioning with the team at the end of practice, so a bullet dodged there for sure.

-Conditioning at 11:11 to wrap the day up. The post-practice huddle was much calmer as O'Brien just reminded guys that every minute matters. We obviously don't see practice on Wednesday or Thursday, but I have to imagine it'll be much cleaner and a much higher intensity.