I got to training camp a little late today, so I only saw parts of the 7-on-7 and 11-on-11 drills. If yesterday was a bad turnout, today was awful. Apparently The Zone's tent flew onto the field and they considered cancelling practice. That, along with the gloomy weather may have scared some people away. However, it was really nice that it was overcast and wasn't over 100 degrees.
Chris Palmer is a perfectionist. I love that he has a play clock running at all times. It seemed like the team was making a lot more subs than usual to get the team more comfortable with it.
Something I found really interesting was that on one more than one occasion, Palmer told Locker ,"Don't forget to underthrow." Locker apparently had a reputation of overthrowing balls in college, so it's nice to see Palmer trying to change that.
Locker and Hasselbeck both tried to scramble. Hasselbeck fared a little better than Locker, sliding out of bounds. Another thing I noticed was a lot of receiver screens, so that's something to look for in the preseason. Both Locker and Hasselbeck did pretty well today.
The refs were present for the second day in a row. They were very strict on calling offsides, I imagine upon the coaches' request. That's nice to see, after last year's disaster. Tracy Rocker cussed Jason Jones out after he was offsides on , and he responed by tipping a Hasselbeck ball the next play.
Our boy Alterraun Verner worked with the first team defense today. Kenny Britt went up to a ref and whispered in his ear, loud enough for everyone to hear, "Watch out for #20 this season. He'll fly right by you." Britt had a loudmouth comment like that every other play. He is way too bored.
Michael Preston was very impressive. He probably won't make the team, but I think the team will try to put him on the practice squad if he keeps it up. He had two really nice catches from Jake Locker early. He's the tallest receiver on the roster, and he's not afraid to show it, going high for a really nice grab on a ball thrown by Locker.
Stafon Johnson was also impressive. All day he was making defenders miss tackles.
Gage was very unimpressive. He dropped at least two extremely catchable balls. Herb Donaldson didn't impress either. He couldn't find many holes running the ball, and he dropped an easy touchdown all by himself in the end zone.
UDFA receiver James Kirkendoll has become Rusty Smith's go-to man. If nothing else, he's giving it all he has, diving once and stretching his toes to catch a ball in bounds another time.
Speaking of Rusty Smith, he mishandled a snap on one of the last plays, and told Chris Palmer with a laugh that he wasn't ready for it. I was impressed by how calm Coach Palmer stayed after that.
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