Like the NFL, UCI was a completely different landscape from my last trip to camp there in 1994. I hardly recognized it.
Back then there wasn't 5 different shows on five different channels dedicated to the NFL on everyday, no NFL Network, no internet....no crowds.....Nope, nothing besides the local news and maybe a quick blurb in the LA Times and the occasional clip on ESPN and maybe about 20-30 fans at the last training camp as the Rams had one foot out the door in 1994.
Flash forward 22 years, now there are thousands of people there and HBO is filming.....its like back to the future, literally.
Anyways, on to the football related stuff.
I mostly focused on the QB's and WR's....they were in shells, so there wasn't a full padded practice, but there was plenty of pads thumping.
Quick observations from Monday's practice.
This team looks bigger and quicker then last year.
WR's look much better this year!!!
Groh is all over them....lots of coaching, barking and the occasional F bomb. I love it!!! A much needed shot in the arm to this group.
Goff has a rifle and very nice touch, in the one on one's he looked great, but in the 11 on 11 he seemed to hold on to the ball way too long or just check it down.
Not too worried, it's still very early...the defense has a huge advantage in shells anyway because the O-line cant go low and really block like the would in regular game.
Best looking QB in the 11 on 11 was Mannion...by far the most improved player on the team. Granted he was going against the 3's, but he was the only one looking deep and dropping dimes.
it's clear Case has been named the starter as he got all the 1's, Goff 2's and Mannion 3's.... the other kid never even got in.
Quick, didn't have a good practice...drop and a fumble on an end around. He might not make the team with all these youngsters hanging around. Hoping he can bounce back.
Duke Williams is a big kid!!! He looks the part that is for sure..If he has speed and learns how to run crisp routes...look out.
Britt had a great toe drag TD vs Tru on a dime in the back of the endzone from Goff in the 1 on 1 drills.... He also had a ball bounce off his chest on a quick slant in the 11 on 11.
The defense was dominant, as they should be...D-line is relentless and the DB's are all over our WR's. No worries in that dept. Stay healthy and they should make noise this year.
Greg Williams is the carbon copy of Groh on the defense...constantly coaching and dropping bombs when he see something he doesn't like.
There was a scrum that had the whole team trying to pull apart......couldn't exactly see who was involved, but from my photographic evidence it looked like Reynolds was one of them.
Tavon and Joyner seemed to be jawing quite a bit with each other...TA took a short out route that Joyner just missed on and would have gone to the house with...Fantasy owners better take him earlier then his ADP is or you might miss out on a late round gem on him this year, they seem to be involving him much more this year.
It's clear from what they showed in practice that this offense is going to be up-tempo and quick striking.... I like it.
I got lucky and picked some great spots to head to as most of the action was on one of the two fields. crowd was nice and light maybe 1-2K mostly all one the side with the action.
Goff stayed late and worked out with Cooper and Thomas on some redzone routes Gurley stayed late and worked on jugs machine, Quick and Marquez also stayed on field and worked out together along with Mannion and some of the young RB's...
All in all, it was a pretty good day of practice, no injuries.
You can tell this team is ready to hit somebody else...Saturday should be fun!!!
here is a link to some of my pics..once you open the link, click on one of the pics to start the slide show..enjoy
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Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 08/09/2016 11:45AM by Rampage2K-.
