The players were in full pads today for the first time after taking a day off to hit the pool. The offense didn't look quite as explosive today as they donned the pads, but there were still plenty of things to like. Overall I'd say the defense won the day, but the offense had its share of big plays. Here are your five points.
- The offensive player of the day had to be Armand Shyne. We didn't see a ton of running plays, but Shyne took one carry up the middle for about a 40 yard touchdown. Take any RB success with a grain of salt right now, because the defense can't tackle yet. It'll be fun to see how they do once they start taking hits. Shyne has been getting praise from the coaches and Whittingham even said a couple of days ago that he had positioned himself atop the depth chart.
- The offensive line held up well for the most part against the first team D line. There was one play where the D line absolutely dominated the O line and forced Williams to scramble to his left for just a short gain. As you may have heard, Lo Falemaka did go down with an injury, the severity of which is unknown. Whittingham said they were hoping for the best, and we should know more about it in the coming days.
- Jason Shelley got more reps today in the observation period, and he has a very strong arm. He hit Alec Dana on a post route with a perfectly placed ball, but Dana unfortunately dropped it. He also found Josh Nurse on a hitch route on the left side for about a 10 yard gain.
- We didn't see much of Cooper Bateman today, just a few plays at the beginning of the observation period. Most of the snaps were split between Williams and Huntley. Williams looked poised and was throwing accurately, he found Bryan Thompson on a screen play that went for about 20 yards. He also had one pass that was tipped at the line and intercepted by a diving Terrell Burgess. Huntley looked pretty good throwing the ball as well, but his highlight came when the pocket broke down and he weaved his way through the 2nd team defense and outran the secondary for a 40 yard TD scamper.
- We finally got to see the kickers in action, and Chayden Johnston's leg was as strong as advertised. He nailed a 45 yard field goal that would've been good from 60+. He also hooked one to the left really badly as well but ended up 2/3 on the day. Hayes Hicken struggled today, I believe he hit one but missed two, one of which was really low.
Last edited:
