Spring Practice tidbits

I wasn't able to make it to Spaulding today, but I did have a few friends send me a gold mine of information.

First about the defense:

"The practice went well. No injuries. I sat in front of the defensive linemen and watched them hit and shed blocks. Kevin Brown looks real agressive and so did Harwell. They both looked like they're close to 280-290 pounds. I saw Bruce Davis use his speed and quickness in the flesh! He's blazing fast!"

I had multiple people say that Kevin Brown looked extremely impressive so far this season. I believe he was instrumental in the success of Hickman and Davis last year since he had to take on so many double teams.

There have been some concerns about our offense so far, especially with Olson tweaking a hamstring. First Markey and then this...

"On the offensive side of the ball, T. Austin made two circus cathces from Pat Cowan. Cowan over threw him both times and the Jackrabbit from LB Poly made him look like a hero! Bethel-Thompson had great throws to the sidelines hitting WR D. Johnson and WR #3 (I think McGee) over the middle. He seems to have better touch than Cowan. Both QBs threw mostly out of the shotgun. In my opinion they should have Cowan roll out more and throw on the run. He's more accurate that way. I also think Cowan held on to the ball too long today. I'm sure he would have scrambled or suffered coverage sacks after 4 seconds in the pocket."

Good to hear that TA is making some plays in practice. I know he's had a tough go with the injuries and the curious lack of playing time last year, but it's good to know he's out there making plays for us.

At the same time, Olson's injury really concerns me because I had 4 different people who were at practice say the same thing...We will struggle offensively with Cowan at the helm. It's not good to know that he was holding the ball too long because one of his best attributes is that he makes quick and for the most part, good decisions. We need Olson to be able to compete for the job now and if he can't go 100% for Spring, it COULD mean that Cowan gets named the starter at the end of Spring ball.

"T. Austin struggled on the sweep run blocking drills. He's simply too small to block bigger, taller DBs. Joe Cowan looked great in his agility drills and caught a few good short routes. I think D. Johnson is going to create match-up problems if he's on the field. The WR corps looks deep!"

Other people told me that DJohnson looks good so far and that he could give us a good lift this year. It would be great to see our receiving corps being used like they were in 2005 when DO was able to spread the ball around despite KDs ridiculous amount of substitutions. In '05, Marcedes, Joe Cowan, Everett, Breazell and Ketchum all made significant contributions and it would be great to see more than just Everett have a good season at the WR position this year...

I've also heard that Brian Price was there again today and I believe that makes him 3 for 3 in the last few days. Great to see that he's a Bruin through and through.

One other interesting tidbit from those I talked to at practice was how involved Eric Scott is in practice. He's out there running back punts, getting tackled and extremely active with the players. Great to see what we've missed when we lost Bienemy...

Any other thoughts from Spring ball observers? I'll be out there next Saturday...