Guys, not a ton to talk about on the field on the first day. Media was allowed to watch stretching and the first four periods, so roughly about 45 minutes.
The quarterbacks were on the field well before anyone else and of all the guys, the one who looked like he knew what he was doing most was Michael Brewer. His passes were crisp and on the money, his hustle was where it needed to be and I didn't see him have to re-do anything the whole time I was out there.
The guy who seemed to struggle the most was Brendon Motley. Offensive coordinator Scot Loeffler had him redo two of the first four reps he took. One was because Motley didn't hustle out on the field fast enough. He was also fussed at by assistant coach Stacy Searels for not sprinting to the corner of the end zone fast enough. Early on, the first team, then the second team, would run a play and then on Searels' command (who was standing in a corner of the end zone), would sprint to him.
It was interesting to see Bucky Hodges spend the entire time we were out there, working with the receivers. That's what Bucky is good at, but he didn't spend any of the time working with the other tight ends, who did a lot of blocking drills. Still, Bucky looked crisp with his footwork, hands and I don't think I saw him drop a pass.
By far the best looking offensive linemen are Augie Conte and Wyatt Teller. Those are the guys, not surprisingly, that the entire strength staff raves about, as far as off-season work. And they showed it in drills, too. We already knew Conte had the makings of a good guard, but this looks like when Teller really puts everything together and is a starter, too.
The other guy I really like and am impressed with on the OL is Eric Gallo, who was a true freshman last fall. It looks like Gallo will be the likely starter at center and he did a good job making the calls yesterday in drills and taking charge of the OL. He's soft-spoken off the field, but has a different, good side when he's on the field.
Defensively, Yosuah Nijman, physically, is as impressive as any defensive lineman you'll see. He's very physically imposing. But it's gonna take some time, you can already tell, before he's ready to make an impact. Nijman is a guy who got by on a lot of raw ability because he's so massive. Technique-wise, he still needs work. There were a lot of times in drills yesterday where assistant coach Charley Wiles would take a minute after a rep to specifically go over to Nijman and coach him, tell him he needed to get better pad level, come off differently, etc. Nijman will get it and he'll be a monster for VT, it just might not happen right away this fall.
Maybe it was just yesterday, but it looks like maybe Dadi Nicolas has taken Steve Sobczak under his wing. Nioclas has gradually gotten better over the past couple of years opening up, becoming more vocal and doing more than just play. I noticed after multiple reps yesterday, he'd take Sobczak aside and demonstrate how he needed to do something. I got a photo of one of those moments. Just impressive to see how Nicolas has come along.
From what we saw, the DBs didn't do a lot. They did a lot of walk-throughs, but that was one position it was really tough to get a feel for during the open period. I thought from what little we saw, Mook Reynolds looks like he'll be a quick learner. He seems to move well and though he was out of position on a few reps, natural for the first day, he's getting the hang of things quickly.
Guys, happy to answer any questions on anything I didn't cover. It's tough to gauge a ton on the first day of spring practice, but I'll try my best to answer any of your questions.
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This post was edited on 3/25 8:20 AM by Jason Stamm
