Better Late than Never: Open Practice Observations

I know, I know...  Lew beat me to it with his, but whatever.  I typed it all up in Word last night, but didn't have an internet connection at my friend's place, so I had to wait until I got home this afternoon to post.  So, here goes...

Heading into the 2009 football season, there are many things that we do know about the University of Kansas football team.  However, there are also a few relatively unknowns, as well.  Head coach Mark Mangino likes to keep the media, fans and the rest of the country in the dark as much as possible in regards to information on players, strategy, injuries and everything else, really.  He has done another worldly job turning around the football program since he took over, so we put up with it and allow it.

But, on Wednesday August 26th, the team held an open practice/ Fan Appreciation Day for the fans as a makeup for a previously scheduled event, which was cancelled to new Field Turf being laid.  I made the trip to Lawrence to take in the event and try and get myself pumped up a little bit more for the upcoming season – since ya know, Kansas is a BASKETBALL SCHOOL and all.

Denver wanted to know what the backup running back rotation looked like, how the freshman wide receivers were progressing and, among other things, what the offensive line rotation looked like.  Esteban had many of the same curiosities.  So, I kept an eye out for those particular things and others.  Let’s just say that the people that you expect to lead the team this year did not disappoint.

Dezmon Briscoe, probably the Jayhawk with the greatest NFL potential on the current roster, put on a dazzling show in every drill - 1-on-1 WR/CB, 7-on-7 and full scrimmage.  Something that you can never really get a feel for on television is how well a receiver runs his routes.  Let me tell you that Dez is an incredible route runner.  His change of direction, cutting ability and knowledge of coverages thanks to Madden NFL video games, he is undoubtedly the number one go-to-guy for Todd Reesing.  Underrated, though, about Dez is his athleticism.  He has the "slow 40" knock on him; and while that may have small amounts of truths to it, he more than makes up for it with his circus-catch ability.  (Remember the catch against Texas last year?)  He made a similar play today on a corner route, which was underthrown by Kale Pick, but he still managed to tip it up into the air, fall backwards and make the catch behind the defender's back while on his way down to the ground.  Then, about five minutes later, he made an impossible, one-handed, left-handed catch across the middle.  Therefore, good luck to any defensive back attempting to cover him on a twelve yard out-route.

We all know that Briscoe is a special player already, though.  He stood out head and shoulders above the rest, though, so special mention of his play was warranted.  Something that everybody always talks about at the top of their list of concerns for the program moving forward is the backup quarterback position and who will step into Reesing's shoes next year.  With the exception of Kerry Meier taking a few full scrimmage reps, Pick took the majority of QB2 reps.  He looked pretty good, to my untrained eye, at least.  He is definitely more of your "prototypical" quarterback at a quick glance than Reesing.  What we have all heard about him is how athletic he actually is for a guy his size.  I was skeptical, but boy, was I wrong!  Other than one play where he tried to roll out before actually catching the snap, he showed very good pocket presence and a strong arm.  Jordan Webb got a few reps and looked like a true freshman.  I hope he gets to take a redshirt this year and save himself a year of eligibility.  The surprise of the young QB's was fellow freshman Christian Matthews.  Many say that he is destined to play another position, given his athleticism.  While this may prove to be true ultimately, he looked very good in 1-on-1's; he threw a great ball time after time - so much so that I had a running tally of consecutive throws on right on the mark.

As far as the running backs go, nothing much new to talk about there.  Jake Sharp is the obvious RB1, Toben Opurum (who is a BIG dude) took a lot of reps with the second-team offense and a fair share with the first-teamers.  The running game today did not look good for the most part.  I think more of it had to do with the defensive line's penetration, (get excited, labba!) but one thing about Toben stuck out to me.  While most plays were run with a toned down aggression level - coaches blowing plays dead at first contact, assuming the tackle would be made - Toben, time after time, went at, and right through, an attempted tackler.  The kid can bang.  Color me excited over him!  He also had a couple nice catches out of the backfield, backing up scouting reports calling him a great receiver for his size.  Forget "for his size;" he is a threat out of the backfield, period.  Rell Lewis got a few reps, too, but did nothing special.  No participation from Daniel Porter, at least that I can recall.

We'll start at the top of the depth chart with the wide receivers.  Briscoe was studly, as noted above.  Kerry Meier had a bit of an off day, surprisingly.  During 7-on-7, he dropped a wide open pass along the sideline at the 1-yard line, followed by a wide open ball on an out-route about five minutes later at midfield.  He made up for it with a couple of tough catches in traffic soon thereafter, though.  He still doesn't wear any gloves at receiver, by the way.  Johnathon Wilson looked great.  Great hands and leaping ability.  Probably the position that KU fans are most excited about due to recent recruiting classes is the wide receiver position.  Bradley McDougald is a serious athlete - not that you need me to tell you that.  He didn't look to be blazingly fast, but he is incredibly shifty and crafty in shaking his man off.  He ran the slot position opposite of Meier in all first-team sets without a tight end.  Get used to seeing #24 making plays.  The other two incoming receivers, Chris Omigie and Erick McGriff, both have very impressive size.  Omigie's arms look as large in person as they did in the infamous "alien arm" picture from National Signing Day.  He is very long and lean.  During 1-on-1's, I noticed that he was easily, dare I say very easily, bumped off his route by the defender.  This is to be expected of a freshman standing 6' 5" and only weighing 195 pounds.  He showed great leaping and stretching ability in individual receiver drills.  He went up much higher than anybody else in the jump ball drill.  Pick/Webb to Omigie in the corner of the endzone will look a lot like Manning to (pre-gun in sweatpants) Burress.  A guy that I really hope gets a chance to step up on the field this year, A.J. Steward, got some second-team reps and looked good in the slot position.  No special highlights to speak of, but he has definitely taken well to the weightroom this offseason and put on a ton of muscle.  I tend to think that we will manage to survive in the receiving department.

Arguably, the biggest question throughout the offseason was who would start on the offensive line.  I will go on record as saying that I do not worry nearly as much about this as many other people I have talked to.  I like it when young guys get a chance to play and prove themselves and consequentially progress with playing time.  That said, there was little to report along the O-Line.  From left to right, the first-team looked like this: Tanner Hawkinson, John Williams Jr., Jeremiah Hatch, Sal Capra and Jeff Spikes - all as expected.  Run blocking was a bit of a problem, I'll admit, but we are more of a passing oriented team anyway, really.  Pass protection looked good.  Reesing and Pick both had ample time to allow the play to develop and receivers to break open.

Pressure on the quarterback is going to be much improved this year.  There is so much depth on the roster.  The second-team is now, in essence, what used to be the first-team; and that is a sign of two things - the old D-Line was really bad, but that new D-Line looks REALLY good.  At the beginning of the full scrimmage, there was something weird - the line consisted of Max Onyegbule, Jeff Wheeler, Jake Laptad and Stephen Foster - all defensive ends.  Wheeler and Laptad lined up in the middle.  I'm not sure what to make of this, if anything, so maybe you can tell me.  The highlight of the defense in the full scrimmage was made by labba's favorite new guy, Quinton Woods.  Chris Harris came on a corner blitz and Woods dropped off in a shallow zone.  Pick dropped back and fired quickly to his left, Woods jumped up, tipped the ball into the air and away from him, dove after it and made the pick.  It was quite and athletic play, for sure - something you would expect to see from a linebacker.  Besides that great play, he looks physically imposing and far more developed body-wise than the rest of the D-Linemen.

Angus Quigley and Vernon Brooks ran together to start the scrimmage, were spelled by Drew Dudley and Arist Wright, follwed by Huldon Tharp and Steven Johnson.  On run plays, it looked like the linebackers made great pursuit into the backfield and blew up the play.  I noticed this especially on a sweep-left where Brooks was about 5 yards deep in the backfield, where he met Sharp head-on.

The first-team secondary was pretty much as expected: Daymond Patterson, Anthony Davis lined up wide with Chris Harris as the nickel back/ "Rover Safety" and Darrell Stuckey and Justin Thornton at safety.  Harris made a very nice play on an underthrown ball on a corner route where he adjusted, came back to the ball and out-leaped the receiver, making a semi-diving catch.  He looks more like Chris Harris Version 2007 than CH V. 2008 - thank the football gods for this.  It's tough to really look too good against an offense opposite them during the scrimmage, but the secondary held their own.  Side note: Darrell Stuckey is a big dude.

The last question to be answered was the kicking game - more specifically, the kickoff specialist, Jacob Branstetter.  Branstetter is very accurate on field goals, thus he has assured himself of the starting kicking job.  The question, though, was could he add some distance to his kickoffs.  Answer: Yes and no-ish.  During kickoff drills, Branstetter booted three of his six kickoffs into the endzone and left three inside the five yard line.  Better than last year, for sure, but putting every kick, especially on a windless day as today, into the endzone would be huge in the field position battle.  Handling the kick returning duties was a combination of the best athletes on the team: Bradley McDougald, Tyler Patmon and Dez Briscoe.  Briscoe and McDougald both had nice, long runbacks. 

Special Points of Interest:

• Lew Perkins was on the sidelines for part of the practice.  He loves the cheerleaders.
• On offense during 7-on-7 and full scrimmage, the skill players get up to the line and THEN look to the sideline for the play, just as in games.  They do it in practice, too; not just the games.  I don't know why, but this was kind of a surprise to me, but it does make sense - practice what you do in the game.
• Given away to fans upon entrance were blue mini footballs with home schedule printed on it and a sweet, giant poster with full schedule printed on it.

Link to 9 short videos (nothing special, and only fair quality) of mostly 1-on-1 WR/DB drills and some 7-on-7.