The Griz practiced in helmets and shoulder pads this afternoon. It was the first time they've put on pads this week. They'll have another half pads practice tomorrow before going to full pads practices starting Friday. Here are some observations from practice
- The first team offense and defense is slowly starting to take shape. Keeping in mind that it's still very early and things can definitely change, this is what it looked like in 11 on 11 drills today
OFFENSE
QB: Cole Bergquist
HB: Thomas Brooks-Fletcher/ Andrew Schmidt (They both split time with the first unit during 11 on 11 and look to have moved slightly ahead of Chase Reynolds on the depth chart)
WR: Mike Ferriter, Marc Mariani, Tyler Palmer/ Rob Schulte (Ferriter is the mainstay. When they lined up with 3 WR's it was Ferriter and some combo of the other 3 guys. From what I could tell, Mariani was on the field more than Palmer and Schulte)
TE: Steven Pfahler (Dan Beaudin and Robert Overton also ran with the first team, but Pfahler seemed to get the majority of the reps)
OL: Chris Dyk,Terran Hillesland, J.D. Quinn, Colin Dow, Brent Russum, Dan Carter, Levi Horn (The Griz love to rotate guys in and out on the O-line and D-line. These were the 7 guys who were playing with the first team today)
DEFENSE
DE: Mike Stadnyk, Jace Palmer, Carson Bender
DT: Austin Mullins, Jesse Carlson, Craig Mettler
LB: Tyler Corwin, Shawn Lebsock, Brandon Fisher
CB: Trumaine Johnson, Mike McCord (Both freshmen. Bobby Hauck has said linebacker and cornerback are the positions you will most likely see freshman play at right away)
S: Colt Anderson, Shann Shillinger
-Now for your daily Trumaine Johnson update. Don't mean to beat a dead horse with this guy, but you can't help but notice him at practice. He seems to be in the middle of everything. Marc Mariani beat him deep during 7 on 7 drills when Johnson was playing press coverage. But three plays later they tried to go back to Mariani, who again was being played aggressively by Johnson, and TJ did a great job playing the ball and deflected the pass away. They seem to be pretty comfortable leaving this guy on an island in practice so far. Obviously that might change once the deep passes actually start to count, but it seems like he has good 1 on 1 coverage skills as long as he remember to get his head around and play the ball. Associate Head Coach Mike Hudson and Coach Hauck were in Johnson's ear the entire practice, mostly offering encouragement today. They both seemed very pleased with his progress
- The first team defense definitely got the better of the first team offense during 11 on 11 today. The secondary looked much better and did a great job keeping everything in front of them and getting their hands on balls. Colt Anderson had an interception and there were a few sacks that were a direct result of good coverage. They were flying to the ball
- The offense in general was a little sloppy today. There were 2 or 3 muffed snaps and a couple more fumbles on the handoff exchange. Bergquist and Selle were both guilty of this.
- Chase Reynolds busted off a nice long run against the second team defense. He took a pitch to the left side and quickly turned it straight up field, going untouched for about 30 yards. Linebackers coach Ty Gregorak was displeased to say the least, and was pretty vocal about it too.
That's all for today. More from Griz practice tomorrow. As always, tune in to the 10 @ 10 tonight on ABC for more about the Griz, and e-mail me at varun@maxmontana.com if there is anything specific you'd like to know about the team.
~Varun
