Fall Camp Day Thirteen: Curhan Catches Punt, Offense Erupts
It was a simple wager at the end of practice. Justin Wilcox picked three linemen from each side of the ball, making sure to pick the ones that were in the back, thinking that they were the most reluctant. Chinedu Udeogu missed catching his punt, badly according to Jordan Veasy.
"I guess he wasn't paying attention to the guys ahead of him," Veasy noted, "because he tried to catch the ball over the head, so I guess he had a mental lapse there. But that's not his job on a day to day basis, so we'll let him pass"
Then it came down to Jake Curhan. Catch the punt from the JUGS machine, and the defensive players would have to run a gasser. The order up to that point went like this
Addison Ooms (Offense) ... Miss
Chris Palmer (Defense) ... Catch
Patrick Mekari (Offense) ... Catch
Rusty Becker (Defense) ... Miss
Chinedu Udeogu (Defense) ... Miss
This is how it went down.
Curhan had this to say about catching the punt:
"It was cool. Coach Wilcox thought I was scared because I was standing in the back, but I knew I'd catch it. It was fun. As soon as it was up in the air, I just kind of played it like it was a fly ball going back to my little league days. I remember catching it and then hearing a bunch of screams of excitement from the offense."
It was a shorter day of practice, seventeen periods, with the team in shells as they look to work off a productive scrimmage Saturday.
"I think they looked fresh and we got a lot of really good work in today," Wilcox said, "It was a little bit shorter practice but hit some situational things and some of the things from the scrimmage that we needed to clean up."
The next couple of days would appear to be more physical, like they were a week ago, with Wednesday's open practice being physical, according to Wilcox.
"This week, tomorrow and Wednesday will be physical practices," "and we’ll get some live tackling in either some one on one situations, more drill type work, and then we’ll crank it back up this Saturday and get some more live 11 on 11."
More on the Walkons Earning Scholarships:
Justin Wilcox discussed the five walkons who earned scholarships, given over the weekend:
"Just guys who have earned it, and done a good job doing what we’ve asked them to do and taking care of their business off the field, and approach it the right way from everything we ask them academically, socially, and athletically. Glad to be able to reward those guys.
We don’t do it like some other places, we just talk to them one on one, and the team finds out. It’s not about me or us giving them, they’ve earned something, that’s how I look at it, and so really excited for them and they’re well deserving."