Wednesday practice 3/29

[RV]

I will be attending practice tomorrow and will be posting some notes tomorrow evening. I will also be wearing a nametag (I am RV) so don't be shy and introduce yourself if you see me. The players will only be in shorts and helmets but I'm still looking forward to this first practice. See ya there.

[poodoo]

Well, I won't see you there, simply because of a four-hour drive to get there, :ggrin:BUT I will surely look forward to your report tomorrow evening. Thanks in advance, RV. :)

[UedK]

As always. looking forward to your report(s).

[baldcat]

I look forward to your reports, RV. :thumbup

[Matt Dillon]

Thanks for the effort RV.

[delkbestalltime00]

i would like to attend some of these practices

[delkbestalltime00]

ok i found the schedule, are these practices at nutter?

[zuma]

Look forward to hearing what you see tomorrow. Thanks.

[RV]

Well here we go:



First of all I want to say I was disappointed that no one introduced themselves to me at the practice after my gracious invitation but after thinking about it who would want to talk to a guy in an overcoat ... ;)



All seriousness aside … :cool:It's really great to be watching UK football again. Now for the practice report.



No one moved up or down the depth chart during the off season and that’s how it should be, however … that will all change soon enough.



I want you to read and understand this. Everything that is said about our spring practice must bereceived with the knowledge that we have 20 – 25 players that are not participating or are limited in their participation this spring due to injury, not reported yet etc. When I mentioned we are missing players I really mean “players”. Guys that will likely be first or second teamers for us. That’s half of the guys we will be depending on this fall so keep that in mind as you read these spring reports. That being said there are some good things to report.



We have some men on our team and I do mean SEC men. We are really beginning to look like an SEC football team and judging by what appears to be our offensive philosophy we are going to look like an SEC team on the field as well. Offensively, most of our practice seemed to be evenly divided between 2 backs with 1 TE / 2WR and 1 back with 2 TE / 2 WR. Some split backs, some I backs, some motion. Don’t ask about the QB’s because I didn’t really watch them much. Besides that’s everyone else’s job. :D



Defensively it was 4-3 all the way so all you 3-4 lovers will be disappointed, at least for now. Our safety position seems to be interchangeable as one or the other will roll up (move toward the LOS like a LB) depending on the offensive strength of formation. D-linemen might shift but the Sam and Will LB will flip (trade places) when the offense shifts it’s strength. When we did get in a defensive huddle, I was like “Dang, we sure look like an SEC defense”. Myron Pryor should have little pickup trucks in front and behind him with the signs - wide “LOAD”. Both Durrell White and Dom Lewis looked considerably bigger.



The secondary was flying around and CB Jarrell Williams was particularly impressive and LB Johnny Williams is just a pure physical specimen. BTW, he picked off a wayward pass but several other would be interceptions were dropped by other players.



If I were King I’d swap positions with Wesley Woodyard and Mo Grinter right now but we have no one that really has shown they can play the WLB position yet so it’s probably a good thing I’m not King. Speaking of Grinter, I watched himquite a bitand I have serious doubts he will stick at Safety unless he can learn to back pedal and drive forward but he does look like an SEC athlete.



Our RB’s are the real deal. A good RB has good vision and good feet and we have several guys that fit the bill. Add to that they have very good speed so we will be fine there. Dixon has really thickened up and was the first in line in many drills giving the impression that he is hungry and chomping at the bit.



Ravi Moss made his debut wearing #4 and showed promise. While it’s been reported he had several drops, I watched him intently as he got in some extra work under the tuteledge of Keenan Burton while the kicking game was being practiced and while he is very raw he caught many more than he dropped and worked very hard on his release and footwork. He could be a pleasant surprise this spring. Dicky Lyons laying out to make a sideline catch when the ball was 5 or 6 feet outside the sideline was more impressive to me than the 40 yarder that Ravi caught but that was nice too. :shock:



We’re gon’na have some nice depth at TE. Tamme is out of pads this spring but Bogue was impressive today and while Zipp seems to be not so fleet of foot, he catches practically everything. Sexton and Drake also looked good.



You can visibly discern the difference between those O-linemen that were already here as opposed to those that this staff have brought on campus. I'm betting that Coach Heggins has a much bigger smile now than he did this time last year. While we were only practicing in shorts and helmets, Mr. Christian Johnson looked like he was wearing pads. He comes in at a svelte-looking 325 and Zach Hennis almost appears lanky at 322. Micah Jones is sitting out the spring due to academics and we can only keep our fingers crossed that he will turn things around before it’s too late. :(



Our Kickers didn’t look so hot but so what. I think we’ll be fine there come fall with Seiber on the way. :?



I will be making most (if not all) of the Wednesday and Saturday practices so if you have a position or players that you have a particular interest in, let me know and I’ll try to write them up and don't forget to say hi. :lol:

[CHRVDM]

RV, any way you could comment on two generalities, size and speed improvement.

[Sam K.]

Thanks RV. Almost all day I've been looking forward to your report.

Is their any chatter on how far along Keenan Burton is in regards to the healing process of his foot?

[sCATback]

RV, thanks for taking the time to post for us out of towners.

[lighthouse]

Thanks RV. I'm excited already, and looking forward to your next report.

[Caveman Catfan]

Excellent report RV.

Anything else besides the kickers and the injuries cause you concern??

[Matt Dillon]

Thanks RV.

[RaviMoss#1fan]

Rv thanks for the report give up some more on ravi over the next week and half how hes playing

[UedK]

I saw a few seconds of Moss on the news tonight. He looked to have real quick feet, and he does have a, as Brooks said, a big body, he really filled out his sweats. In the few short route passes they taped, he looked quick off the line and fairly sharp in the route. His hand eye coro looked good too. (How much can you really tell from 30 seconds of tape). It's going to be interestoing to watch his progress the next few weeks.

RV (or anyone) What time does Saturday's practice begin, I hope to be there? And, RV, you can bet that I'll say hi!.

[RV]

Saturday practices begin around 10 amuntil Blue/White game which starts at 1 pm.

[The Old School JPS]

Has Myron Pryor's muscle injury healed 100%?

He was a good recruiting pickup and could be a bull on the line if he's fully healthy!

[poodoo]

Thanks for the great report, RV. I so look forward to your reports. I was anxious to get on here and read yesterday, but our phone line, and thus my computer,was down. :(Anyway, your report was well worth the wait.

I had read in the CJ yesterday about how so many starters were not able to participate, as they were recovering from surgeries. In the article, Coach Brooks once again said that he had never been around anything like that in the past, over thirty surgeries in a season. Let's just hope and pray all the guys heal AND that we have really good luck in that regard this season.

I was sorry to read more bad news about Micah Jones. While I had read that he was in terrible shape, I had not known that he would be held out of practice for academics. That is not good, especially since he has already missed a year of action on the field. The other bad news was that our secondary contiued their bad habit of dropping potential interceptions. Let's hope theygreatly improve in that regard. Too, I wish we would have those guys' catching tennis ballslike the wide receivers did under Coach Mumme.

Naturally, I especially love thegood news, though. I like howtheguys look more like SEC players. Too, I am particularly enthused aboutthe potential in the running game. From the CJ article, by the way, I had gotten the idea that Tony Dixon was "chomping at the bits," as you say.

Thanks again. I look forward to reading tomorrow's report. :)

[UKCatsRock]

GREAT report RV! Thanks for the time and effort to bring it to us. That's the best report (by far) that I have read so far.

The one thing I'd like to know (eventually) is if it appears our run defense will be better. That really hurt us last year, so that's a point of interest I'd like to know about when you can really gauge how they're doing. Heck, it may be fall before we know, but it'll be something to watch. I know they have some good RB's to practice against.