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Today was my second day in a row at Camp

Weather was the nicest so far, 84 degrees, sunny skies, consistent cool breeze

I watched today without any distractions from the iphone ; I did not take any photos or video

First observation Offense: after 2 days, I'm getting the feeling that coach Groh is having a positive affect on the receivers. Many of the receivers tend to be getting separation early in their routes giving the QB more options in their reads. It's not with all of the receivers, but there is a much higher percentage of plays with open receivers than in the most recent seasons. Can't say it will play like this in the regular season just that it's worth noting at this stage of Camp.
Like I wrote in a previous post, I intend get an understanding of where many of the personnel groupings and formations lead to as far as receiver routes and tendencies for the QB. Up until now, there still isn't any pattern developing, especially since today was the first day I was close to the action and was able to take notes.

Offense: Many different receivers took turns with the 1's ; sometimes it was Brian Quick, sometimes Bradley Marquez, and MIke Thomas was in on some plays. Kennt Britt and Tavon were always in.
- Most of the consistent play is coming from Keenum. Goff and Mannion are looking like Freshman on the field sometimes. Another poster earlier wrote that he didn't see any INT's. Hmmmm, were we watching the same practice? LOL On one play, Mannion threw the ball right into the hands of a defender that was draped over a receiver at the LOS. Goff also threw 2 would be INT's. The decision making of these 2 is not on par with Keenum at this point. I'm not down on either, just pointing out that Keenum is the only one playing like a verteran at this point.

- Brian Quick got some quality targets today and hauled most them in. There were 3 big catches in the Red Zone with 2 of them being TD's.
- MIke Thomas looks like he belongs when he gets an opportunity running with the 1st or 2nd team. HE seems to always be in the right place, creates separation, and catches everything thrown to him. Same to be said about Nelson Spruce. Although, Spruce hasn't received as many opportunities as Thomas.
- I will hold off giving an opinion on the top 6 receivers until next week.
- RB's: nothing to note here ; business as usual
- TE's: Kendricks, Harkey and Higbee (hmm, sounds like a Law firm) are getting most of the reps with the 1st team. Kendricks is getting open alot and making catches. However, most of the throws must be low because he ends on the ground 75% of time after making a catch. I did not see Hemmingway out there today. Justice Cunningham got a couple of more targets today and did well.
- After practice, Keenum, Goff, Kenny Britt and Bradly Marquez stayed and worked on Goal line Fades and back shoulder throws. Goff was working with Britt as to where to place the ball on the back shoulder throws. Britt didn't even run a route.... he just stood in the end zone and Goff just kept throwing ball after ball until they found the spot where Britt wants it... which was 12" over his head.

Defense: I didn't spend as much time looking at defensive player performance as mush as I was with the scheme and personnel.
When they started 11-on-11 the 1st team defense came in what I would call a sort of 3-3-5 Pass defense. They had 3-DL (Hayes, Donald, Sims), 3-LB's (Barron, Ogletree, Ayers), 5-DB's (Sensabaugh, Johnson, Joyner, MacDonald and Alexander) .... before the snap, Ayers would scout around for a possible hole in the line to Blitz, Joyner, at the snap would drop back from his Slot coverage into 15 yard deep Safety, along with Barron playing near the LOS...... it looked innovative

Defensive personnel option: The second time the 1's came onto the filed, I saw: 4-DL (Quinn,Brockers,Donald,Hayes) 3-LB (Ayers,Ogletree,Barron) 3-CB's (Johnson,Sensabaugh,Joyner) 1-Safety (MacDonald)... like above, depending on the offensive formation, sometimes Joyner would back pedal at snap to a 15 yard deep position.
another option they had of this group was removing Ayers (L and adding Alexander (Safety). They would play a Dbl high Safety with Joyner roaming at the snap

Special teams: The only thing to note was that they worked on Kick off coverage. They would send 5 guys at a time, either left or right side of Kicker, downfield. Of all that participated, The following undrafted guys, LB Grigsby (Pitt), Brian Randolf (Tenn) and Rohan Gaines (Ark) were the quickest to get downfield and meet the ball carrier.

Final note: One thing that stood out today, which may have appeared usual to anyone else, was the use of twisting, or crossing players running downfield. Before practice I noticed coach Fassel running the actual course they set up with equipment for the kick returns. I noticed he was showing one of the other coaches how to cross at a certain point 30 yards or so downfield. In addition to this, some of the receivers ran routes that were similar parallel to each other with one receiver on the inside crossing behind the other close to the sideline. This will be something to keep on eye on.

Thanks for reading