06-05-2014, 02:32 PM
There was a nice crowd at the practice fields this morning for the first OTA open to the public. Not quite as large as the first rookie camp session, but close. Folks wanted to come out to see the entire roster on the field to have a look at the new guys, and to see how the rest of the roster is faring as they prepare for the 2014 campaign.
There were quite a few players who didn't participate today, but the one unit more than others that was lacking for personnel was the wide receiving crew. They had 4 guys dressed out and participating in practice today. The others were working with the training staff, or walking the practice fields. Of those, the only one who had any visible injury was Marqise Lee, who was still wearing a boot on his injured ankle as a precaution. The others were walking around and looked fine. No wraps, or bags of ice were being applied, so that's a good sign.
The injured players included the following:
Marquis Lee
Mike Brown
Tandon Doss
Ace Sanders
Josh Evans
Aaron Colvin
Dakoda Watson
Allen Robinson
Lamaar Thomas
Cecil Shorts
Marcel Jensen spent time over there with the trainers, but he did participate in drills.
A few observations prior to the start of practice.
Safety Joe Young was sporting Duck Dynasty camo tights under his practice shorts today. When he took off his helmet, he was also wearing a matching doo rag. He got a lot of teasing, mostly from the coaches as they walked by and made reference to his attire.
The Voice of Jaguars past, and the new voice of the Jaguars crossed paths at midfield along the sideline before practice started. Frangie walked over to, then stood in front of Sexton without saying a word. Looks like the transition is going smoothly.
There was a referee crew in attendance today. It looked like a college crew based on the badges on their shirts. Possibly ACC? Looked like their logo.
During stretching, Gus went around to every player as he always does to slap their hand or pat them on the back. To a man, he had a quick attaboy and a shake with one exception. He stopped to talk in depth to Andre Branch. I'm not sure if it was the neon cleats Branch was wearing that caught his attention, but you could see him talking to Andre, and giving him pointers. The hand gestures alone made it clear he was preaching focus. It was an interesting exchange.
With so many receivers on the sideline, the team dressed out 4 receivers for the practice, and they got a lot of reps. The receivers were Kerry Taylor, Chad Bumphis, Damian Copeland, and Allen Hurns. Not exactly a murderer's row of receiving talent, and it was spotty at times today.
After toiling through the individual drills and special team drills, they finally got around to actual team drills, so let's get to them because nothing exciting happened during the early part of practice.
11X11 (Part 1):
The drill started off slowly with a couple of runs off each guard. Jordan Toddman ran off the left side behind the guard and made a cut to the outside to turn a short run into a decent gain before being forced out of bounds. Toby Gerhart's first touch of the session went off the right guard's side, where he was immediately greeted by Red Bryant, who is an extremely large man. He stuffed the run at the line.
Henne's first pass attempt during the session targeted Allen Hurns on a little swing to the left side. The pass was a bit short, and fell incomplete. Henne went right back to Hurns on a deep crossing route that was high, and went off the receivers hands falling incomplete.
Bortles first pass attempt was a roll to the right and a deep pass down the sideline intended for Kerry Taylor. The pass was slightly overthrown, but that could have been due to the fact that there was pass interference called. Taylor was towing a defender with his jersey on the play.
Luke Bowanko, another large man, made his presence known to coaches and fans alike by botching a snap so badly that it went about 6 feet to the right of Bortles. It looked like the ball just slipped out of the big fellas hand on the snap.
Storm Johnson showed some nice maneuverability, making a couple of quick moves on a draw play to get to the outside on the left side and turn a short gain into a decent 10-12 yard run.
Jordan Toddman had a Bortles dump off pass go right in and out of his hands on a play that probably would have ended up in a sack for Ziggy Hood, who had blown up the play and gotten in Bortles face before the pass was out.
Ricky Stanzi had a great little bootleg to the left hitting Reggie Jordan in stride on a corner route that went for a solid gain.
Red Zone:
Gerhart showed some nice speed getting to the outside behind Joeckel for a soild gain.
Henne rolled right with Kerry Taylor trailing him on a crossing route. Chad put the pass right in Taylor's hands, which apparently is a bad thing as the pass ball landed on the turf for an incomplete pass.
Henne rolled in the opposite direction and hit Chad Bumphis in stride and in traffic. Bumphis made a nice play to haul the pass in for a first down.
Henne ran a little pump fake then went over the top to try to hit Taylor who was wide open deep down the sideline. The pass was just a bit too far for Taylor to catch despite his best efforts.
Bortles connected with Hurns on a seam route on the right hash that went for about 15 yards in tight coverage.
Bortles followed that up with a dump off to Marcedes that went for a big gain as Lewis was running pretty well.
Kerry Taylor made a nice fingertip grab on a pass along the sideline from Henne into double coverage. Taylor had to reach out and haul the pass in, but never broke stride as he made the play. Winston Guy was right there in coverage, but wasn't able to tip the pass away.
Henne targeted Hurns on a deep crossing route in coverage, but the receiver fell down on his route and the pass went bouncing into the grass.
Ricky Stanzi connected with Marcel Jensen on a crossing route in heavy traffic. Jensen actually caught the ball twice, having it bounce off his pads, and fortunately for him back into his hands.
6x8:
The defense got a little tighter during this drill, and on the first couple of plays, they really put the pressure on the young receivers to make catches. On the first two passes targeting Allen Hurns, Dwayne Gratz and Will Blackmon both got close to knocking passes away.
Henne tried to connect with Chad Bumphis on a deep sideline pass, but the receiver was being covered by Geno Hayes, and he could not shake the coverage to get open, and the pass fell incomplete.
Henne tried to hit Clay Harbor on a short post. Unfortunately, Harbor let the ball get into his pads, and the end result was it wound up in the grass.
Mike Harris made a nice play against Clay Harbor. On a reception on a short cross, Harris stuck in there and stopped Harbor as soon as the catch was made holding him to less than 3 yards on the reception.
In a case of not being on the same page, Bortles was looking for Kerry Taylor on an inside slant. The only problem was, Taylor ran to the outside.
Nate Stupar made a solid pass defense against Damian Copeland on a slant. It looked like pass interference, but the ref didn't throw a flag. Stupar came in from behind and went over the top of Copeland to knock the ball away.
11X11 (2 minute drill):
The first team started things off with a quick run to the outside by Gerhart that went for a short gain as he was forced out of bounds along the sideline.
Henne then hit Will Ta'ufo'ou in front of Gratz who quickly shut the play down for a short gain.
Henne tried to connect with Chad Bumphis on a sideline pass that could have gone for a first down, but his pass was too low, and too far to the outside for the receiver to make a play.
Denard Robinson tried to run off the left side but got stuffed at the line by Ryan Davis.
Bortles rolled right and hit Clay Harbor on a perfectly delivered pass on a cross in traffic. Harbor clay-handed it and the ball bounced right off and fell incomplete.
Bortles came right back on a roll to the left, hitting Chad Bumphis along the left sideline for a first down.
Bradie Ewing rolled around the right side and took a Bortles pass for a 6 yard gain.
Storm Johnson carried the ball off the left side for a 3 yard gain setting up a short third down play.
He came back and ran the same play again, this time for 5 yards and a first down.
They flipped the field at this point and Stephen Morris took over. His first play was a roll out to the right side. There wasn't an open receiver, so he wisely just threw the ball away.
Terrance Cobb rolled right and put up a nice 6 yard gain.
Morris connected with Damian Copeland on what was probably the play of the day. Copeland made a great falling grab that converted for a first down in coverage.
Beau Blankenship took the ball up the middle for a 3 yard gain.
Morris hit Bradie Ewing on the sideline for about a 3 yard reception to end the drive.
Henne dropped back to pass, but Alualu and Marks blew up the line and forced him to run for it. They didn't sack Henne, and he was just elusive enough in a red jersey to turn it into a 5 yard scramble.
Jordan Toddman ended the practice on a run off the right side for almost 8 yards.
Final thoughts:
It was a pretty uneventful practice. Nice crowd, nice weather, but nothing that completely wowed the fans, which is to be expected when 3/4 of your receivers are on the sideline watching. It was a good opportunity for the other 4 receivers to get some additional reps, and there was some good and bad that we saw out there from that group. Nothing spectacular.
This is the first time we've had an opportunity to see Gerhart in person, and he looks good out there. He's got nice burst, and he's faster than I expected.
There are a couple of more sessions open to the public. We'll get a good sense for how things are progressing.
More later!
There were quite a few players who didn't participate today, but the one unit more than others that was lacking for personnel was the wide receiving crew. They had 4 guys dressed out and participating in practice today. The others were working with the training staff, or walking the practice fields. Of those, the only one who had any visible injury was Marqise Lee, who was still wearing a boot on his injured ankle as a precaution. The others were walking around and looked fine. No wraps, or bags of ice were being applied, so that's a good sign.
The injured players included the following:
Marquis Lee
Mike Brown
Tandon Doss
Ace Sanders
Josh Evans
Aaron Colvin
Dakoda Watson
Allen Robinson
Lamaar Thomas
Cecil Shorts
Marcel Jensen spent time over there with the trainers, but he did participate in drills.
A few observations prior to the start of practice.
Safety Joe Young was sporting Duck Dynasty camo tights under his practice shorts today. When he took off his helmet, he was also wearing a matching doo rag. He got a lot of teasing, mostly from the coaches as they walked by and made reference to his attire.
The Voice of Jaguars past, and the new voice of the Jaguars crossed paths at midfield along the sideline before practice started. Frangie walked over to, then stood in front of Sexton without saying a word. Looks like the transition is going smoothly.
There was a referee crew in attendance today. It looked like a college crew based on the badges on their shirts. Possibly ACC? Looked like their logo.
During stretching, Gus went around to every player as he always does to slap their hand or pat them on the back. To a man, he had a quick attaboy and a shake with one exception. He stopped to talk in depth to Andre Branch. I'm not sure if it was the neon cleats Branch was wearing that caught his attention, but you could see him talking to Andre, and giving him pointers. The hand gestures alone made it clear he was preaching focus. It was an interesting exchange.
With so many receivers on the sideline, the team dressed out 4 receivers for the practice, and they got a lot of reps. The receivers were Kerry Taylor, Chad Bumphis, Damian Copeland, and Allen Hurns. Not exactly a murderer's row of receiving talent, and it was spotty at times today.
After toiling through the individual drills and special team drills, they finally got around to actual team drills, so let's get to them because nothing exciting happened during the early part of practice.
11X11 (Part 1):
The drill started off slowly with a couple of runs off each guard. Jordan Toddman ran off the left side behind the guard and made a cut to the outside to turn a short run into a decent gain before being forced out of bounds. Toby Gerhart's first touch of the session went off the right guard's side, where he was immediately greeted by Red Bryant, who is an extremely large man. He stuffed the run at the line.
Henne's first pass attempt during the session targeted Allen Hurns on a little swing to the left side. The pass was a bit short, and fell incomplete. Henne went right back to Hurns on a deep crossing route that was high, and went off the receivers hands falling incomplete.
Bortles first pass attempt was a roll to the right and a deep pass down the sideline intended for Kerry Taylor. The pass was slightly overthrown, but that could have been due to the fact that there was pass interference called. Taylor was towing a defender with his jersey on the play.
Luke Bowanko, another large man, made his presence known to coaches and fans alike by botching a snap so badly that it went about 6 feet to the right of Bortles. It looked like the ball just slipped out of the big fellas hand on the snap.
Storm Johnson showed some nice maneuverability, making a couple of quick moves on a draw play to get to the outside on the left side and turn a short gain into a decent 10-12 yard run.
Jordan Toddman had a Bortles dump off pass go right in and out of his hands on a play that probably would have ended up in a sack for Ziggy Hood, who had blown up the play and gotten in Bortles face before the pass was out.
Ricky Stanzi had a great little bootleg to the left hitting Reggie Jordan in stride on a corner route that went for a solid gain.
Red Zone:
Gerhart showed some nice speed getting to the outside behind Joeckel for a soild gain.
Henne rolled right with Kerry Taylor trailing him on a crossing route. Chad put the pass right in Taylor's hands, which apparently is a bad thing as the pass ball landed on the turf for an incomplete pass.
Henne rolled in the opposite direction and hit Chad Bumphis in stride and in traffic. Bumphis made a nice play to haul the pass in for a first down.
Henne ran a little pump fake then went over the top to try to hit Taylor who was wide open deep down the sideline. The pass was just a bit too far for Taylor to catch despite his best efforts.
Bortles connected with Hurns on a seam route on the right hash that went for about 15 yards in tight coverage.
Bortles followed that up with a dump off to Marcedes that went for a big gain as Lewis was running pretty well.
Kerry Taylor made a nice fingertip grab on a pass along the sideline from Henne into double coverage. Taylor had to reach out and haul the pass in, but never broke stride as he made the play. Winston Guy was right there in coverage, but wasn't able to tip the pass away.
Henne targeted Hurns on a deep crossing route in coverage, but the receiver fell down on his route and the pass went bouncing into the grass.
Ricky Stanzi connected with Marcel Jensen on a crossing route in heavy traffic. Jensen actually caught the ball twice, having it bounce off his pads, and fortunately for him back into his hands.
6x8:
The defense got a little tighter during this drill, and on the first couple of plays, they really put the pressure on the young receivers to make catches. On the first two passes targeting Allen Hurns, Dwayne Gratz and Will Blackmon both got close to knocking passes away.
Henne tried to connect with Chad Bumphis on a deep sideline pass, but the receiver was being covered by Geno Hayes, and he could not shake the coverage to get open, and the pass fell incomplete.
Henne tried to hit Clay Harbor on a short post. Unfortunately, Harbor let the ball get into his pads, and the end result was it wound up in the grass.
Mike Harris made a nice play against Clay Harbor. On a reception on a short cross, Harris stuck in there and stopped Harbor as soon as the catch was made holding him to less than 3 yards on the reception.
In a case of not being on the same page, Bortles was looking for Kerry Taylor on an inside slant. The only problem was, Taylor ran to the outside.
Nate Stupar made a solid pass defense against Damian Copeland on a slant. It looked like pass interference, but the ref didn't throw a flag. Stupar came in from behind and went over the top of Copeland to knock the ball away.
11X11 (2 minute drill):
The first team started things off with a quick run to the outside by Gerhart that went for a short gain as he was forced out of bounds along the sideline.
Henne then hit Will Ta'ufo'ou in front of Gratz who quickly shut the play down for a short gain.
Henne tried to connect with Chad Bumphis on a sideline pass that could have gone for a first down, but his pass was too low, and too far to the outside for the receiver to make a play.
Denard Robinson tried to run off the left side but got stuffed at the line by Ryan Davis.
Bortles rolled right and hit Clay Harbor on a perfectly delivered pass on a cross in traffic. Harbor clay-handed it and the ball bounced right off and fell incomplete.
Bortles came right back on a roll to the left, hitting Chad Bumphis along the left sideline for a first down.
Bradie Ewing rolled around the right side and took a Bortles pass for a 6 yard gain.
Storm Johnson carried the ball off the left side for a 3 yard gain setting up a short third down play.
He came back and ran the same play again, this time for 5 yards and a first down.
They flipped the field at this point and Stephen Morris took over. His first play was a roll out to the right side. There wasn't an open receiver, so he wisely just threw the ball away.
Terrance Cobb rolled right and put up a nice 6 yard gain.
Morris connected with Damian Copeland on what was probably the play of the day. Copeland made a great falling grab that converted for a first down in coverage.
Beau Blankenship took the ball up the middle for a 3 yard gain.
Morris hit Bradie Ewing on the sideline for about a 3 yard reception to end the drive.
Henne dropped back to pass, but Alualu and Marks blew up the line and forced him to run for it. They didn't sack Henne, and he was just elusive enough in a red jersey to turn it into a 5 yard scramble.
Jordan Toddman ended the practice on a run off the right side for almost 8 yards.
Final thoughts:
It was a pretty uneventful practice. Nice crowd, nice weather, but nothing that completely wowed the fans, which is to be expected when 3/4 of your receivers are on the sideline watching. It was a good opportunity for the other 4 receivers to get some additional reps, and there was some good and bad that we saw out there from that group. Nothing spectacular.
This is the first time we've had an opportunity to see Gerhart in person, and he looks good out there. He's got nice burst, and he's faster than I expected.
There are a couple of more sessions open to the public. We'll get a good sense for how things are progressing.
More later!
![[Image: 34f8578b7cbbf8719a722408d4b2cea6.png]](http://i.gyazo.com/34f8578b7cbbf8719a722408d4b2cea6.png)