Hacksaw_64's notes from camp 8/2

Better late than never.
As expected, it was a lighter crowd than the weekend. Hard Knocks was there in full force.

I started the day by watching the OL warm up right in front of me. Garrett Reynolds was the first OL on the scene and he ran right up to me and said hello. I didn't realize how massive he really was watching him play last season on TV. He stands out as one of our largest models on the OL. He may be the tallest of the bunch. Coupled with his huge frame and surprising agility, he looks to me like a prototype OT.

Cody Whichmann, in contrast to Reynolds doesn't quite look the part up close. He's much smaller than I envisioned. On top of that with his helmet off he looks like he is just out of HS. I got a little bit nervous thinking that this is the kid that's blocking for our Pro Bowl RB and rookie #1 pick QB. Clearly looks can be deceiving, but still I thought it was funny.

Saffold ran out and promptly started working on agility drills. Not sure about his shoulder but his legs look just fine.

Battle was out there early getting his work in. He is massive too. Really looks like he worked on conditioning in the off-season. He's one of my camp wildcards. If he continues to develop, it going to be huge for the Rams.

GRob was the last guy to show up. Not what I wanted to see....


Havs was there but not in pads.


Practice really opened with the entire team doing stretches as a unit as opposed to groups as they did in the prior practices. The Rams were getting serious today. It was the first legit practice of camp IMO. Training wheels were off.

Mike Groh was calling every play in the huddle for the entire day. It looked to me like he was running the show. Boras was back on the sideline watching intently, Fisher also kept sticking his nose in the huddle.

Keenum looked like Keenum. Made a couple nice throws. A lot of check downs. And some real head scratching inaccurate throws.

Goff had a nice day. He does a lot of little things right. He repeatedly threw a perfect back shoulder pass right on the money in goaline reps. He threw a nice corner fade ball and completed a post to the back of the endzone with authority.

For most of the day Goff looked much better pre-snap. He seemed to get the ball to his best matchup most of the time.
He made a couple "wow" throws again today. He hit Mike Thomas perfectly in stride on a slant over the middle for about a 20 yard gain. He hit Nelson Spruced own the seam with an absolute perfect pass for about a 35 yard gain. He probably scores on that play.

He had his troubles handling the snap from Eric Kush, who is now our backup center. (yes be scared)

He missed Higbee in the endzone with a ball that he overthrew high and out of the back of the endzone. If your gonna miss in the redzone, that's how you do it.

One thing I noticed is Goff was really staring down his receivers too much sometimes and not getting to his full progression of reads. I'm sure that will come in time.

He showed off for the second time his "jump pass". Didn't know he had that in his arsenal. He completed a bullet jump pass on kind of a broken play to his blanketed receiver sitting down in the middle underneath and in heavy traffic.

Mannion looked much better. Had a series of on target passes. He looked actually pretty crisp running the offense. Much better arm than Keenum. Had a real nice throw to McRoberts who made a great catch and stayed in bounds. McRoberts is no slouch!

Kenny Britt made an appearance today. He looks a little on the out of shape heavy side to me. He's another one of those guys that it doesn't quite look like he goes all out all the time in practice. He made one nice catch where he seemed to decide to turn on the jets.


Higbee is a beast and is probably going to start sooner than later.

Hemmingway didn't get reps with the offense.

Kendricks had a bad drop that hit him right in the hands.

Mike Thomas is for real. He made a real nice site adjustment on a ball in the air to haul it in for a TD.

Duke Williams continues to impress. Made a great one handed grab on a bad ball. Made another great catch in the back of the endzone, didn't get his feet inbounds.

Quick dropped a couple very catchable balls in drills. Looked like he was getting moved down the depth chart. He was getting some reps with the second team in the second half of practice. He redeamed himself by making a nice catch in the back of the endzone that he had to go up to get. He actually held on. The entire team and crowd cheered in amazement.

Tavon is our best receiver. Had 3 nice catches. 2 for TD's 1 he was wide open and beat his defender badly.

Gurley opened up with a pitch to the left for a legit 20 yard gain around GRob. He looks a notch faster this year.

Benny showed of his jets. He looks lighter and faster as well. Maybe its the number change.. #23 .

As far as OL goes.

Overall they handled the DL much better than previous practices.

Kush is horrible. We are in big trouble if Barnes gets hurt. = Rams achilles heal.

Take this with a grain of salt because I wasn't focusing on them all that much but..

Saffold and Jamon Brown both were having problems. In fact our interior line didn't look good vs power or speed. Ethan Westbrooks, Donald and Brockers were eating them alive still way too much.

Battle and Robinson held there own. Robinson got beat by Quinn a couple times but that's to be expected. Overall he held up OK.

Darrell Williams seemed to hang in pretty well backing up at LT. He may be another surprise.


Pharoah Cooper wasn't in pads but sure looked like he wanted to be. He was shadowing WR's in drills. Also, he was working with Tavon on Punt Returns. Tavon was coaching him up.

Stedman Bailey was at the practice throwing the ball around.

At corner...

Trujo and Sensabaugh got first team reps on the outside. There was also a combination where it was Trujo and Joyner as the two outside corners. Gaines is on the second team as of now.

Roberson actually looked pretty good

They seem to be taking a good look at Troy Hill, he got a ton of reps...

Mo Alexander and McDonald again were starting saftey's. Both struggled in coverage.

Christian Bryant looked horrible

Bryce Hagar looks tiny.

Ogletree got beat badly trying to cover a back out the backfield.


Couples had one real nice disruptive play.


Overall a much cleaner practice on the Offensive side. You can tell the coaches are really focusing on the offense. They have yet to open up the passing game. But clearly that is the focal point. One step at a time.



That's all for now.


I'll be heading back early next week.