The Rundown
Practice officially began at approximately 3:50 p.m. CT and we walked out around 5:50 p.m. CT. We watched individual drills, fastball, one-on-ones, seven-on-seven, red zone work, blitz drills and two minute drills.
Getting guys back
For the second practice in a row, we saw a pair of defensive transfers getting some action in team drills. Defensive tackle David Oke from Abilene Christian and defensive back Kani Walker from Oklahoma were both on the field Thursday.
"Kani Walker was one of 'em that he didn't do the entire practice (Tuesday) that was planned going in, but what he did, it was good to see him out there," Sam Pittman said Thursday. "Obviously, we need to see him, see what he can do skill set wise and all that before the portal opens, and so we were real happy about him.
"David Oke did the same thing. He was limited (Tuesday), but he went through indy and went through some half of what his normal rack would've been during practice. He did half of those. So that was good."
Running back Rodney Hill has been sporting a green jersey at practice as of late with an undisclosed injury. Linebacker Wyatt Simmons has a hamstring pull, but has participated in limited capacity some.
Rough day for the offense
It was not the best day overall for the offense, as at least three quarterbacks threw interceptions. At one point in the practice, Taylen Green rallied the troops before a team drill after the defense set the tone with some physicality. His words of encouragement didn't really seem to do much, as even he finished his day with an interception in the two minute drill.
Both freshmen — Madden Iamaleava and Grayson Wilson — also had interceptions during the practice. Redshirt freshman KJ Jackson had back-to-back passes broken up by Keshawn Davila during the second team offense's two minute drill.
Special Teams
We did see them work on punt return, kickoff coverage and field goals during Thursday's practice. Kam Shanks was the starting punt returner, which makes sense after he led the nation in punt return yardage and touchdowns last season. Raylen Sharpe and Bryce Stephens were also returning punts.
Freshman Scott Starzyk was kicking for the first team field goal unit with freshman punter Gavin Rush as the holder and redshirt sophomore Max Schmidly snapping. Starzyk hit field goals from 42, 39 and 36 yards out and he missed from 49. Blake Ford went 3-for-3 from 29, 36 and 46 yards out. Charlie Von Der Meden hit from 46 yards and missed from 49 yards.
At this point, there is no clear leader for the starting kicker job, and there's also nobody that seems to give confidence they could go win a game at this point.
A few thoughts
A couple of players who stood out to me Thursday were freshman running back Cam Settles and transfer receiver Kam Shanks. Settles runs hard, bounces off tackles and he seems to have solid vision for a first year guy. I love the way they use Shanks as a gadget guy, and he had a couple of tunnel screens Thursday that would've been very solid gains.
We did see them experiment with E'Marion Harris as first team right guard and Shaq McRoy as first team right tackle. Thursday was really the first day I watched McRoy and felt like he didn't look great. I watched him get beat off the edge by both Kaleb James and Donovan Whitten, who actually had a solid practice.
The other look is to go with Harris as the starting right tackle and Keyshawn Blackstock as first team right guard. They also continue to give Caden Kitler and Brooks Edmonson looks at first team center, while the left side has consistently been Corey Robinson at left tackle and Fernando Carmona Jr. at left guard.
Montana State transfer Rohan Jones put together the first practice from a tight end that's really impressed me to this point. He caught a few balls on the sideline from Taylen Green during team drills that showed off his athleticism. I also can't help but think that they'd be better off moving Monte Harrison to tight end.
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Notable plays
- Larry Worth III intercepted Taylen Green on a ball tipped by O'Mega Blake during the first team offense two minute drill.
- Keshawn Davila made back-to-back pass breakups with the second team defense during the two minute drill.
- Madden Iamaleava threw an interception on a deep shot intended for Shamar Easter that ended up in the hands of Bryce Stephens during the "team force" drill.
- Iamaleava was also picked off by Aidan McCowan on another deep shot to Easter that was just overthrown during team blitz drills.
- Grayson Wilson was picked off by Caleb Wooden in the red zone on a pass intended for Krosse Johnson during 7-on-7.
- Rohan Jones made multiple nice caches on both sidelines on passes from Taylen Green during the team blitz drills.
- Iamaleava threw a nice touchdown ball to Mike Washington with Brad Shaw trailing in coverage during 7-on-7. He also threw a touchdown to Kam Shanks on a fade route during 7-on-7.
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Depth Chart
These depth charts are unofficial and just a general list based on the fastball drills ran. They go with different personnel and different formations often.
FIRST TEAM
Offense
QB: Taylen Green
RB: Mike Washington
TE: Andreas Paaske
WR: O'Mega Blake, CJ Brown, Raylen Sharpe
LT: Corey Robinson II
LG: Fernando Carmona Jr.
C: Caden Kitler
RG: Keyshawn Blackstock
RT: E'Marion Harris
Defense
DE: Quincy Rhodes Jr.
DT: Ian Geffrard
DT: Danny Saili
DE: Charlie Collins
LB: Xavian Sorey Jr.
LB: Stephen Dix Jr.
NB: Caleb Wooden
CB: Jaheim Singletary
CB: Selman Bridges
S: Larry Worth III
S: Miguel Mitchell
SECOND TEAM
Offense
QB: KJ Jackson
RB: Tyrell Reed Jr.
TE: Rohan Jones, Jaden Platt
WR: Ismael Cisse, Monte Harrison
LT: Kavion Broussard
LG: Bubba Craig
C: Brooks Edmonson
RG: Blake Cherry
RT: Shaq McRoy
Defense
DE: Justus Boone
DT: Kevin Oatis
DT: Kaleb James
DE: Donovan Whitten
LB: Tavion Wallace
LB: Brad Shaw
NB: JJ Shelton
CB: Jaden Allen
CB: Keshawn Davila
S: Quentavius Scandrett
S: Ahkari Johnson
THIRD TEAM
Offense
QB: Madden Iamaleava
RB: Cam Settles
TE: Maddox Lassiter
WR: Courtney Crutchfield, Shamar Easter, Kam Shanks
LT: Aaron Smith
LG: Jonas Nantze
C: Kash Courtney
RG: Tim Dawn
RT: Marcus Dumervil
Defense
DE: Donovan Whitten
DT: JJ Hollingsworth
DT: Caleb Bell
DE: Kavion Henderson
LB: Joseph Whitt
LB: Justin Logan
NB: Cade Fields
CB: Aidan McCowan
CB: Landon Phipps
S: Braylon Watson
S: Anton Pierce
