Fall Practice Recap: Day 1
The first day of Fall camp has come and gone with much fanfare, as the Bears head to Australia in less than three weeks. There are questions to be answered, the most pressing being the situation with the quarterbacks. There's other issues to address, such as which receivers will hit the field first, and who's moving to safety.
First, a few notes from Sonny's press conference:
- Michael Trani is taking a medical retirement, and is no longer with the team. He apparently has back issues that will prevent him from playing football
-Greyson Bankhead is not with the team currently, due to his injury. He'll be back later this week so team doctors can understand the severity of his injuries
-David Davis has applied for his 6th year and was at practice today. Sonny said that waiting for the NCAA to respond is like "waiting to hear from the IRS"
- They haven't decided on a starting quarterback yet, though there's quite a bit of film study to go through before tomorrow's practice (3 sessions per Spavital's count).
- Malik Psalms moved over to safety from corner, and Trey Turner played a bit of safety as well
On to the actual practice, where Davis Webb drew praise for his deep ball. Webb is as advertised, smooth throwing motion, tight spiral, and gets the ball to his receivers in rhythm. His intermediate throws need work, but that can come with time and repetition with receivers. Chase Forrest doesn't have the same kind of deep ball, but can make every other throw. He wasn't as on target as he was during the spring game, but he moved the offense along. Both QBs did get intercepted on underthrows. Webb underthrew a comeback to Demetris Robertson, which got jumped on by Ashtyn Davis, and Forrest had a quick route jumped by Trey Turner, who has some impressive closing speed. When asked, Turner said he's getting more comfortable with this being his second year, and the game is coming to him a lot easier.
The offensive standouts for the day were Chad Hansen and Melquise Stovall. Hansen showed off his speed and route running all day, making a tough catch on a gorgeous fade from Webb. Spavital said in his press conference that he thinks this could be a "special year" for Hansen.
Stovall picked up where he left off during the spring, burning a couple defenders on deep routes and making some excellent catches. Stovall did drop a crossing route from Webb that could have gone for at least 15 yards after the catch, but proved that he's going to be a fixture in the offensive gameplan.
Demetris Robertson ran with the second team for most of the day, and does look a bit raw at his position, considering how much of his time he spent at running back in high school. He runs an excellent slant route, turning Traveon Beck around in 1 on 1s.
The first team offensive line at this point (from left to right) is Aaron Cochran, Chris Borrayo, Addison Ooms, Dwayne Wallace, and Steven Moore. Both Jeremiah Stuckey and Dominic Granado rotated into this group at center, and JD Hinnant played some right guard as well. There wasn't too much to evaluate at this point due to the lack of pads though.
Defensively, the day was all about the secondary. Without pads to determine meaningful 1 on 1 situations, the defensive backs had to be the focus. Turner and Davis had their interceptions, along with one from Khari Vanderbilt off a tipped pass in 7 on 7s. Antoine Albert had a couple of key deflections, and the corners seemed to play tighter on the receivers with a bit more bumping than in the past.
All in all, not much was decided today. By the look of today, there could be a starting quarterback by the end of the week, along with a much more solidified group. Until then, there's time for competition.