1) Today was definitely a lighter work load day for the defense. The first half of practice consisted of a few technique drills, followed by a lot of work on formations and assignments. They walked through their assignments about half speed and the coaches quickly gave them feedback on if they fulfilled their personal responsibility on the play. Very tedious work, but necessary. The players let their bodies recover some from the scrimmage while still working the mental aspect of the game.
2) Linebacker sighting!!!! Moments after I called him out for having a disappointing spring, Sunia Tauteoli went on a rampage. Today was by far his best practice as a Ute spanning over the last two seasons.
Cox had a perfect pass to Bell in the endzone but Sunia got there at the last moment and ripped the ball out of Bell's hands.
He talked physical in the middle of the field all practice long and had 2 tackles for loss. The highlight was when he beat Joe Williams to the edge and took him down before he could turn up field, Williams list around 4 yards on the play.
3) Jason Thompson came up with two interceptions. The first one came off a bad pass from Cox. Cox obviously lost sight of Thompson as he stepped right in front of a 20 yard pass over the middle of the field.
Next interception came from being "Johnnie on the spot." Eggiman made a great play on the ball, the ball came off Eggiman hard and went 10 feet up into the air. Thompson made his way under the ball for the takeaway.
4) I must admit that in goal line 1 on 1's the receivers got the best of the DB's. They defense had solid position, but this time the receivers went up and got the majority of the contested balls. I'm not sounding an alarm, the defense covered well. Props just need to go to the receivers got wanting the ball more and winning this battles.
Along those same lines, the middle of the field was open all day for Huntley and Cox. Although Sunia played well, the linebackers were the weak spot in pass coverage. Multiple 7 yard slants were successful over the middle of the field.
5) Porter is showing some serious speed and looks like he is trusting his knee 100% now. He had an impressive interception. Running down the sideline, right on Simpkin's hip, stride for stride, he jumped up and made a play at the ball before Simpkins could even gather himself. Quick, aggressive moves is something Porter needs to continue to be able to do.
2) Linebacker sighting!!!! Moments after I called him out for having a disappointing spring, Sunia Tauteoli went on a rampage. Today was by far his best practice as a Ute spanning over the last two seasons.
Cox had a perfect pass to Bell in the endzone but Sunia got there at the last moment and ripped the ball out of Bell's hands.
He talked physical in the middle of the field all practice long and had 2 tackles for loss. The highlight was when he beat Joe Williams to the edge and took him down before he could turn up field, Williams list around 4 yards on the play.
3) Jason Thompson came up with two interceptions. The first one came off a bad pass from Cox. Cox obviously lost sight of Thompson as he stepped right in front of a 20 yard pass over the middle of the field.
Next interception came from being "Johnnie on the spot." Eggiman made a great play on the ball, the ball came off Eggiman hard and went 10 feet up into the air. Thompson made his way under the ball for the takeaway.
4) I must admit that in goal line 1 on 1's the receivers got the best of the DB's. They defense had solid position, but this time the receivers went up and got the majority of the contested balls. I'm not sounding an alarm, the defense covered well. Props just need to go to the receivers got wanting the ball more and winning this battles.
Along those same lines, the middle of the field was open all day for Huntley and Cox. Although Sunia played well, the linebackers were the weak spot in pass coverage. Multiple 7 yard slants were successful over the middle of the field.
5) Porter is showing some serious speed and looks like he is trusting his knee 100% now. He had an impressive interception. Running down the sideline, right on Simpkin's hip, stride for stride, he jumped up and made a play at the ball before Simpkins could even gather himself. Quick, aggressive moves is something Porter needs to continue to be able to do.
