After not being able to attend camp at all last year, it was good for me to be back in the stands this year. I feel as though I have missed a lot. The team has gone back to all grass practice fields after having the field closest to the stands as field turf for years. I don't know when this happened.


Despite that change, though, it was good to know the same things that interest me about going to camp have not changed. For instance, I am still fascinated by the differing drills different coaches utilize to get player to hone their crafts. Today was no different. One such difference I noticed was early in the practice, Marrone (?) was working with Wizniewski, Beadles and Joeckel. Initially, they were working on coming out of their stances, with the first few steps to the left, as if run blocking. A little later, the three of them took turns being attached to a bungee cord that was attached to the north goalpost. Once attached to the cord, the players would take turns coming out of their stances in pass sets and other steps in a drill that seemed to be geared towards developing initial explosion in their footwork. Later still, the entire OL participated in drills where they would have their hands engaged with a coach (Not Marrone) who would knock their hands off of him, with the goal of getting the linemen to re-engage their hands with the defender. Also there was a drill by the RBs where they would hit two of the targets on the sled and fan out to hit a "blitzing" coach, which to me showed an emphasis on pass protection by the backs. I don't recall seeing any of these drills in years' past. It will be interesting to see how the performance is affected by these particular drills.


Other observations:


Yesterday, FBT reported that Bowanko ran with the ones at C. Today, Wizniewski started at C. The second team OL from left to right tackles consisted of Josh Wells, AJ Cann, Bowanko, Sam Young, and Austin Pasztor.


Olson's influence on the offense was immediately apparent. There seemed to be a lot more shifting and motion than in years' past. Some of it was predictable given the emphasis on the TE/H-Back on the roster. Based upon what I saw today, Thomas is definitely going to be a move TE. Many plays, he started outside of Marcedes and off the line and came in motion across the formation. Other plays he lined up wide. Other plays, receivers would change splits, etc.


On the first 11 X 11 drills, Pierce seems to have learned from Yeldon's fumble yesterday, as he covered the ball with both hands at the end of a long run.


Bortles had a play where he dropped back, held the ball, and had nobody open. He rolled to his right and tried to hit A. Robinson, but it was broken up by House. That seemed to be a recurring theme today-Bortles holding onto the ball for an extended period of time. I don't know to what that is to be attributed. I don't know if Bortles isn't comfortable with the offense, if the receivers aren't comfortable with the offense, or if the DBs are displaying tight coverage. But hopefully it is not a sign of the receivers being unable to gain separation. We shall see in the weeks to come.


LaRoy Reynolds had a hard hit that drew ooohs from the fans for a padless practice on a pass to the right flat from Henne to TE Connor Hamlett. Passes in the flat seemed somewhat problematic overall, as another pass to #84 was behind him and he had to make an adjustment to catch the pass from Henne.


DE Chris Smith showed the same snap anticipation and explosive first step that got Jaguars fans excited last year. He got pressure on the passer and forced a quick dumpoff pass to the flat.


There was a pretty good fight by camp standards after this, but I could not tell the participants.


Another Olson (?) influence are particular types of crossing route combinations by TEs and receivers that seemed designed to stretch and clear out underneath coverage.


On 7x7...


Bortles threw a deep pass to Julius Thomas down the left hand side that was broken up by House (?). Thomas seemed to have a step. My impression is the ball seemed to hang, but I don't know if I can blame Bortles for that or not.


Yeldon ran a deep pattern down the right hand side, had a step, and dropped it.


Rookie TE Ben Koyack went high over the middle, and was hit in mid air, and still held onto the ball, earning oohs from the crowd.


I could not definitively tell who was beaten (House?) but he was beaten badly on a deep pass down the right side (I want to say it was by Tony Washington). WHomever the DB was, he looked bad on that play.


Rookie LB Thurston Armbrister impressed me with good coverage on a wheel route by a RB down the right hand side. He seemed to read the route immediately and was all over it. The RB got no separation whatsoever, and Armbrister seemed in prime position to make a play on the ball if it were on target.


LaRoy Reynolds had another nice play by breaking up a pass to Marcedes Lewis.


When the team went back to 11 X 11...I didn't stay for the entire part.


However, Bortles threw to Allen Robinson on what might have been the most entertaining play of the practice. House covered him tightly, deflecting the ball straight up in the air before Robinson kept his focus and came down with the ball.


Washington also had another moment, turning around Aaron Colvin pretty well down the left sideline on an intermediate pass.

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