Dear MCMers and Titan Nation,
Sorry for such a long delay in my blog. I have been wanting to update everyone, just been busy with football due to the lockout.
Well we have finished three preseason games as of now. I will start back from the start of camp. I am so relieved that we are back to playing football and being back at Baptist Sports park with all the guys and the rookie. It has been a blast being around all of them as well. I didn’t realize how much I miss this whole atmosphere until I came back to it. We really are a tight brotherhood and I am very impressive by the rookies as people first and foremost. The first couple days were a little weird, but I quickly adjusted to the routine and grind of training camp.
Training camp has been over for a while, but I will give a quick recap. I felt this was a pretty good camp for us considering new coaching staff and this lockout happening. I felt most people came in sharp and was ready to go. I am actually loving the new defensive scheme and style and I believe we will be able to make a lot of plays on the ball in this new scheme. People I have been impressed with:
Akeem Ayers, has been a beast in practice and I am excited to watch him grow over the course of an NFL season.
Jake Locker: very coachable and great guy. You see him growing every day
Casey, Klug, Clayton: these three DTs are the real deal and been constantly in the backfield in games and in practice. They will help us out a bunch this year! Very impressive
Colin McCarthy: very strong leader and good instincts and good hands
Tommie C.: we all seen him run back that int. he has great size and speed. Once he gets adjusted to the game a little bit, he is going to be a very good corner.
Damian: been stepping up this camp
Jamie harper: been doing a great job on the ground for us. Very impressive so far.
Hasselbeck: he is doing well for our offense, very accurate
Everyone else we know about so no need to say they are impressive.
Preseason games:
Vikings: I felt we started off the preseason with a bang. We came out strong and physical and started to put our stamp on the titan way of football. Both sides were clicking. Both teams pretty vanilla, but still great effort. I enjoyed this game a lot because my old college roommate and teammate Dominique Johnson was picked up by the Vikings and I got to see him in action. Klug, Javon, Casey, Jordan babs, Jake were all among highlights from this game.
Rams: The first preseason game I was able to start. Felt like both sides were very dominant in this contest. Other than the first play for the defense. I felt like we had a solid game plan and effort in this game. Unfortunately we lost, but we clearly outplayed them. Felt like this was another step in the right direction. Jamie, Cortland, Klug, Griff, Hasselbeck were among Highlights of the game. This game was special for me because a very special UCLA alumnus came to support. That person name was Jackie Joyner-Kersee. I truly appreciate her coming to support. I also had a long time friend of my dad who relocated to Missouri when I was young come to support as well. Think they gave me the good vibes to have a pretty decent game this day.
Bears: The latest preseason game. It was a great win in large part to T.C. taking one all the way back to the house. Felt like this game was a little sloppy on our part. One reason is because the bears are a good team, but mostly was on us. It was encouraging that with these mishaps we still managed to find a way to win the game! Felt Jamie, griff, c. hope, Tommie, chris Hawkins, ayers, Malcolm Sheppard, nate Washington, cook all had exceptional plays. People I knew on this squad was 32- kahlil bell who was the rb at ucla for 3 of my 4 years and Chris Conte – 47 trains with me in California and played at Cal.
Overall, I feel we are moving in the right direction game by game. We are building towards that opening weekend and getting after the jaguars.
I felt that I had an even better camp than last year. Might not have made as many interceptions, but I felt I was in better coverage this time around. I felt my play in the preseason games been pretty good, except for that 20+ play knox had on me this past game. I learned from that mistake and moved on. The highlight so far was getting the int in the Rams game so far for me. Been a while for me to have the ball in my hands, so hopefully we get that more! I am excited for my 2nd season and I expect myself to be better before and even more aggressive in a calculated way. I don’t know what exactly my role will be this year whether starting, nickel, not playing, or special teams. I will give it my all and help this team out as much as possible. I have my eyes set on the playoffs this year and so should you. God Bless and enjoy this last preseason game this Thursday!
Sincerely,
Alterraun Verner
Twitter: @alvern_1