First drills dealt with special teams. We're going from the standard punt formation to the spread out front and 3 back blockers formation that a lot of teams are going to. I'm not particularly a fan because an all-out punt block D can easily overwhelm the back 3 if they get past the front......but I also noticed that we put a LOT of speed and play-makers on the front line. Not saying I saw them practice it....but it looks to me like we could pull off some nice fake-punts. Another part of the punt drills was them punting the ball and sending either 2 or 3 guys down field to tackle. They were practicing keeping the return guy contained in between them which would allow gang-tackling and stripping the ball(which was highly emphasized.) No one could contain Nick Brassel.....absolutely NO ONE. The guy showed flat out amazing athleticism and broke containment every time that I saw him back there. Another guy that really impressed was walk-on freshman Tyler Baker. 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLZucCqo1_4
He broke containment several times cutting back and forth. His running style really reminds me of Dexter. Not game-breaking speed but is fast quickly and runs with a very low center of gravity. He's the one that brought the applause from players and fans by laying out for a catch last Saturday in the IPF. He'll earn himself a scholarship after this season and will most certainly see the field in some capacity this season. This guy is definitely one of those diamonds in the rough.

As far as QBs......Can't really say one stood clearly ahead of the other but it should be noted that Brunetti stretched in the starter's position. Didn't count but all 3 had what looked like similar snaps during passing drills. Mackey didn't wow me but he didn't look bad either. Brunetti had some really good throws but also had 3-4 batted down at the LOS. Stoudt threw some really pretty passes today in the medium to deep routes but made some real "Jevan Sneed" passes in the flats and short yardage. Brunetti and Stoudt both had a great long TD pass in 7-on-7's. Brunetti threw a perfect spiral that caught the WR(can't remember who) in stride about 40 yards down field. Stoudt threw a nice deep pass to Snoop who had a guy right on his jersey. Snoop made a great over the shoulder catch.
I didn't get around to watching the line's going at it but I did hear a loud "There we go Corey Gaines". I did see Lockett make a nice play to get a sack during the full offense/defense scrimmages. A few defensive backs looked really good as far as coverage and reaction to the ball. Sawyer is obviously the clear-cut best DB we have(which is no surprise). Senquez Golson continues to impress everyone with his athleticism. He made quite a few plays today. Didn't see Snoop line up at DB today.....has me wondering if the coaches are now making him a WR full-time with Denzel getting cleared. 
Ralph Williams made several nice stops against the run. Some where being in the right spot at the right time and some where shedding blocks. I saw one defensive formation during full scrimmages that had Wayne Dorsey line up in the OLB position. I don't think they're moving him there as I only saw that once. I guess it's just something to confuse the offense. He stayed in a zone after the ball was snapped. 

Ken Burns is by far the most vocal person on the field. He brings a little of Orgeron and a little of Nutt at the same time. He'll yell, cuss, and generally chew the shit out of a guy for messing up but will very loudly sing all kinds of praises for making a good play. Gunter Brewer is my favorite coach on the staff. He jokes around with guys but also commands(and receives) a lot of respect from the WR's. He seems to be extremely thorough with his coaching. I like how he talks trash to the players about it being hot and he is wearing long pants and long undershirt. He never had less than 110% energy during practice and it rubbed off on the WR's. 

Strolled in fashionably late as usual so I missed the first 30 or so minutes of practice......but here's some notes taken as they happened...

Mackey and En'ricky Davis were working with the 1's primarily.

Davis broke a few tackles in route to a 55 yd TD. Looked great.

Charles Sawyer made on amazing pass break up on a fly route. Was burned momentarily but hawked down the WR and made an amazing play.

Mackey is throwing some great deep balls.

WR's having tough as hell time catching the ball with Sawyer playing tight coverage.

Devin Thomas runs hard. Made a few hard nose gains.

Bolden came up limping after a goal line play. Looked like ankle. He went with a trainer to the locker rooms and never returned as far as I saw....

Nick Parker looking extremely timid hitting the line. With his monster size, he needs to be hitting that line with a head full of steam.

E. Davis showing his experience vs Parker. Davis hits the line hard, leaning forward, and driving his legs. Parker stops just short of the line and starts looking for something to open up. Parker has the body of an amazing back.....just needs to give himself more confidence.

Davis just absolutely destroyed Pendleton in the secondary for another long TD. He's finally looking like he is supposed to. It looks as if we're trying to make him a short yardage back......but the problem is that he keeps driving hard and breaking tackles for big gains.

Terrell Grant just made a great catch with Sawyer on his back on a slant route. Took a lot of concentration to bring that one in.

Vincent Sanders just came down with a 30 yard jump pass in triple coverage. Broke two tackles and took it another 20 yards for a score. Thats the kind of playmaker we need in the WR corp..

Parker is getting a lot of reps.......but I think that's because the coaches are trying to get him more aggressive. Looks decent pass blocking.

Stanley has dropped/been stripped 3 balls in less than 10 minutes under pressure. he just doesn't look comfortable at all.

Mackey is THE number 1 QB IMHO.......but Brunetti is looking pretty damned good though as well. Mackey is obviously more mobile but I'm really impressed by Brunetti's size and mobility. I think we're in very good shape with either of these two QB's.

From what I saw today.....I'd pick Evan Ingram over Nathan Stanley. Stanley just needs to go ahead and transfer out for his own good.

Mackey just fumbled a read-option play....heard him scream "shit" louder than I've ever heard anyone scream it. I'm calling BS on any speech problems talked about from here on out.

Stoudt looked like he had happy feet at times in the pocket. Just looked scared......but with DT and Marry blitzing....i would too.....but he shouldn't.

ja-mez Logan is making some great catches. I'd say he's making a valiant push for Number 1 WR.

DT Shackleford is chewing ass right now to some people on Defense. He'll be All-SEC this year IMHO.



Didn't expect this.....but during a goal line play....the entire defensive sidelines started chanting DE-FENSE and then started yelling right before the snap...........The defense stopped the "Very Heavy Set" running behind Big Terrell Brown.

He made an appearance on Rivals Radio and basically said the following..

He said the guys who decommitted looked at their program and weren't ready for the high expectations. LULZ. And a committed athlete doesn't take visits to other schools.

I just watched him call into ESPNU and here was his spin...

 

"I'm excited. One of the things that I'm REALLY excited about is that 15 out of our 22 recruits are from the state of Mississippi and that's more than any other school in the state. Praise be to the Flying Spaghetti Monster"

I don't care what anyone else says. I'm reading this as him declaring on national television that he won the in-state recruiting battle again.

On your 9/15 Rebel Round up, you posted a link to a WV news outlet that said "Auburn is 2-0 and is coming off a 49-24 throttling of SEC foe Ole Miss." This kind of sh!t pisses me off too no end and I decided to take some action.......

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You can ask almost any player and they will tell you that their pre-game ritual is vital to how they will perform. While some individual player's ritual may include writing your favorite scripture on your eye-black(or give a shout-out to Abner's Sauce a la Powe), team rituals are just as important. The most common team ritual is to rub an inanimate object just before taking the field. Notre Dame has "Play Like A Champion Today". Clemson has "The Rock". Florida has a head of a gator. And Ole Miss players rub the bust of the late Chucky Mullins. It seems that other team's are finally picking up on the trend. The question is who is the next team to run out of ideas and copy everyone else......

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