Written by Mitch Monge
Another cool, crisp morning with patches of sunshine was the setting for the final Tuesday of spring practice. Both units are looking better as we approach the spring game, but nagging injuries have prevented both sides of the ball from having all starters out there. That being said, the team has plenty of depth, and it’s always next man up. Here was the first-team offense from today:
QB: Jake Luton
RB: Artavis Pierce/Jermar Jefferson
WR: Kolby Taylor
WR: I’Shawn Stewart
WR: Jesiah Irish/Anthony Gould
TE: Noah Togiai
LT: Blake Brandel
LG: Gus Lavaka
C: Nous Keobounnam
RG: Clay Cordasco
RT: Brandon Kipper
- Today’s practice concentrated on a lot of individual drills, and partial team drills—they only went 11-on-11 for about 10 minutes total compared to 20 or so.
- The first team drill was fairly uneventful, with Jermar Jefferson pounding the ball up the middle and his longest run being about 12 yards. The drive culminated in field goal attempts for first Jordan Choukair, and then Nick Van Valkenburg. Both made field goals from 40 yards—more on them later.
- Both QBs had fair days. Luton and Gebbia both made sharp throws, but were also under some pressure from the defense.
- Gebbia had the highlight for the QBs today, executing a perfect play action rollout. Gebbia sold the handoff so well, basically all the defensive front seven went for the ballcarrier. Gebbia nonchalantly rolled out to his right, where he found a wide open Teagan Quitoriano who leaked out uncovered down the left side. Gebbia uncorked one back across the field to the wide open Quitoriano, who was eventually run down by a defensive back.
- Jack Colletto took some extended reps, as well as Nick Moore and Aidan Willard. Colletto found Stewart twice in a row for nice completions, but was picked off by Moku Watson on an underthrown pass.
- Nick Moore ran the most efficient drive of the day, leading his unit down the field with a series of nice plays, highlighted by a big completion to Anthony Gould down the right side.
- Job Dockery saw a lot of time on the field with the plethora of injuries to receivers. He had a head-fake on a 10-yard in route that had the defender stumbling over his own feet.
- I’Shawn Stewart has impressed with the increased snaps he’s seen. Stewart went toe-to-toe with Isaiah Dunn, and hauled in the post round over the gritty corner.
-Throughout the day, the offensive line saw some shuffling around. The second unit has Jake Levengood working at center, with Brock Wellsfry at left guard. Coach M also swapped Kipper and Brandel at the tackles, while also swapping Lavaka and Keobounnam for a different looking offensive line.
- Andre Bodden ran a stop-and-go route and got the defender to bite, allowing him to haul in Gebbia’s pass over the top of the defense.
- BJ Baylor has impressed the entire spring, and had the first big highlight of the day. Baylor took a screen pass for 20+ yards, putting some nice finesse moves on several defenders.
- Baylor took a handoff off the left side, and stiff-armed safety Kee Whetzel to the ground, en route to running out of bounds.
- For his final trick, Baylor rattled off a big run to the end zone, bursting through a massive hole on the left side of the line, and winning a foot race to the end zone.
- The defense looks vastly improved, and they were in the backfield for most of the day. The defense did a number of subs with the first unit, but this seemed to be the Beavers’ base package:
DE: Isaac Hodgins
NT: Elu Aydon
DE: Jordan Whittley
OLB: Hamilcar Rashed
ILB: Avery Roberts/Isaiah Tufaga
ILB: Shemar Smith
OLB: Andzrej Hughes-Murray/John McCartan
CB: Isaiah Dunn
S: Omar Hicks-Onu
S: Jalen Moore
CB: Kitan Oladapo
- The first unit was effective today, and looks to be solid up front. The Beavers now have good size in Hodgins, Aydon, and Whittley (when he’s healthy and in there). The next step will be using that advantage to get in the backfield and pressure the quarterback.
- Jeromy Reichner and Omar Speights highlighted the second unit, and will be key rotation players defensively. Speights has been flying all over the field, and is a very instinctive ball player. He will definitely see action this season.
- Isaiah Dunn had a nice pass breakup on a difficult out route. Dunn has very good timing on when to get his head around and break up passes. However, he does grab a lot of jersey when receivers get past him. However, the physicality also makes the offensive players better, and Dunn is a competitor.
- Addison Gumbs was running and cutting on the side today. This is the first time I have seen him cut or move faster than a jog this spring. Definitely a good sign that he is nearing a return to the field.
- Hamilcar Rashed continues to impress from the outside ‘backer position. He batted down one of Luton’s passes at the line—a tall task considering Luton’s height advantage.
- Rashed also sacked Luton, coming off the left edge, and beating the tackle inside to collapse the pocket and force a sack. Rashed, Hughes-Murray, and McCartan all had good pressure from the edge today.
- Elu Aydon anchored the middle, coming away with a tackle for a loss along with several other run stops in the middle.
- Isaac Garcia seems more and more comfortable with the move to linebacker. He got reps today and made the most of them, batting a pass down at the line. The entire defense looks more engaged and focuses, which has led to an increase in tackles for loss and batted passes.
- The end of practice was the most exciting, as Evan Bennett forced a fumble which was recovered by the defense.
- On the last play, a pass was deflected and the tipped ball was intercepted by Matthew Tago and the defense mobbed the sophomore linebacker at the conclusion of practice.
- Back to the kickers: At the very end of practice, Coach Smith had a little kick-off. Choukair went first, and nailed his attempt from 40. Van Valkenburg matched him, but his kick was slightly wobbly. Both kickers then missed from 45 yards; Choukair missed left, and Van Valkenburg was just short with another wobbler.
The final kick was back from 40 yards, where Choukair make his, and Van Valkenburg pushed it right. Overall FGs made: Choukair 3/4, Van Valkenburg 2/4.
Injuries
Offense: Tino Allen, OUT; Kanoa Shannon, OUT; Trevon Bradford, OUT; Champ Flemings, OUT; Tino Allen, Limited Non-Contact; Tyjon Lindsey, Limited Non-Contact; Isaiah Hodgins, Limited Non-Contact; Calvin Tyler Jr., Limited Non-Contact;
Defense: Addison Gumbs, OUT; Jaydon Grant, OUT; David Morris, Limited Non-Contact; Shawn Wilson, Limited Non-Contact; Simon Sandberg, Limited Non-Contact; Jaden Robinson, Limited Non-Contact; Kaleb Hayes, Limited Non-Contact; Andrzej Hughes-Murray, Full;
Another cool, crisp morning with patches of sunshine was the setting for the final Tuesday of spring practice. Both units are looking better as we approach the spring game, but nagging injuries have prevented both sides of the ball from having all starters out there. That being said, the team has plenty of depth, and it’s always next man up. Here was the first-team offense from today:
QB: Jake Luton
RB: Artavis Pierce/Jermar Jefferson
WR: Kolby Taylor
WR: I’Shawn Stewart
WR: Jesiah Irish/Anthony Gould
TE: Noah Togiai
LT: Blake Brandel
LG: Gus Lavaka
C: Nous Keobounnam
RG: Clay Cordasco
RT: Brandon Kipper
- Today’s practice concentrated on a lot of individual drills, and partial team drills—they only went 11-on-11 for about 10 minutes total compared to 20 or so.
- The first team drill was fairly uneventful, with Jermar Jefferson pounding the ball up the middle and his longest run being about 12 yards. The drive culminated in field goal attempts for first Jordan Choukair, and then Nick Van Valkenburg. Both made field goals from 40 yards—more on them later.
- Both QBs had fair days. Luton and Gebbia both made sharp throws, but were also under some pressure from the defense.
- Gebbia had the highlight for the QBs today, executing a perfect play action rollout. Gebbia sold the handoff so well, basically all the defensive front seven went for the ballcarrier. Gebbia nonchalantly rolled out to his right, where he found a wide open Teagan Quitoriano who leaked out uncovered down the left side. Gebbia uncorked one back across the field to the wide open Quitoriano, who was eventually run down by a defensive back.
- Jack Colletto took some extended reps, as well as Nick Moore and Aidan Willard. Colletto found Stewart twice in a row for nice completions, but was picked off by Moku Watson on an underthrown pass.
- Nick Moore ran the most efficient drive of the day, leading his unit down the field with a series of nice plays, highlighted by a big completion to Anthony Gould down the right side.
- Job Dockery saw a lot of time on the field with the plethora of injuries to receivers. He had a head-fake on a 10-yard in route that had the defender stumbling over his own feet.
- I’Shawn Stewart has impressed with the increased snaps he’s seen. Stewart went toe-to-toe with Isaiah Dunn, and hauled in the post round over the gritty corner.
-Throughout the day, the offensive line saw some shuffling around. The second unit has Jake Levengood working at center, with Brock Wellsfry at left guard. Coach M also swapped Kipper and Brandel at the tackles, while also swapping Lavaka and Keobounnam for a different looking offensive line.
- Andre Bodden ran a stop-and-go route and got the defender to bite, allowing him to haul in Gebbia’s pass over the top of the defense.
- BJ Baylor has impressed the entire spring, and had the first big highlight of the day. Baylor took a screen pass for 20+ yards, putting some nice finesse moves on several defenders.
- Baylor took a handoff off the left side, and stiff-armed safety Kee Whetzel to the ground, en route to running out of bounds.
- For his final trick, Baylor rattled off a big run to the end zone, bursting through a massive hole on the left side of the line, and winning a foot race to the end zone.
- The defense looks vastly improved, and they were in the backfield for most of the day. The defense did a number of subs with the first unit, but this seemed to be the Beavers’ base package:
DE: Isaac Hodgins
NT: Elu Aydon
DE: Jordan Whittley
OLB: Hamilcar Rashed
ILB: Avery Roberts/Isaiah Tufaga
ILB: Shemar Smith
OLB: Andzrej Hughes-Murray/John McCartan
CB: Isaiah Dunn
S: Omar Hicks-Onu
S: Jalen Moore
CB: Kitan Oladapo
- The first unit was effective today, and looks to be solid up front. The Beavers now have good size in Hodgins, Aydon, and Whittley (when he’s healthy and in there). The next step will be using that advantage to get in the backfield and pressure the quarterback.
- Jeromy Reichner and Omar Speights highlighted the second unit, and will be key rotation players defensively. Speights has been flying all over the field, and is a very instinctive ball player. He will definitely see action this season.
- Isaiah Dunn had a nice pass breakup on a difficult out route. Dunn has very good timing on when to get his head around and break up passes. However, he does grab a lot of jersey when receivers get past him. However, the physicality also makes the offensive players better, and Dunn is a competitor.
- Addison Gumbs was running and cutting on the side today. This is the first time I have seen him cut or move faster than a jog this spring. Definitely a good sign that he is nearing a return to the field.
- Hamilcar Rashed continues to impress from the outside ‘backer position. He batted down one of Luton’s passes at the line—a tall task considering Luton’s height advantage.
- Rashed also sacked Luton, coming off the left edge, and beating the tackle inside to collapse the pocket and force a sack. Rashed, Hughes-Murray, and McCartan all had good pressure from the edge today.
- Elu Aydon anchored the middle, coming away with a tackle for a loss along with several other run stops in the middle.
- Isaac Garcia seems more and more comfortable with the move to linebacker. He got reps today and made the most of them, batting a pass down at the line. The entire defense looks more engaged and focuses, which has led to an increase in tackles for loss and batted passes.
- The end of practice was the most exciting, as Evan Bennett forced a fumble which was recovered by the defense.
- On the last play, a pass was deflected and the tipped ball was intercepted by Matthew Tago and the defense mobbed the sophomore linebacker at the conclusion of practice.
- Back to the kickers: At the very end of practice, Coach Smith had a little kick-off. Choukair went first, and nailed his attempt from 40. Van Valkenburg matched him, but his kick was slightly wobbly. Both kickers then missed from 45 yards; Choukair missed left, and Van Valkenburg was just short with another wobbler.
The final kick was back from 40 yards, where Choukair make his, and Van Valkenburg pushed it right. Overall FGs made: Choukair 3/4, Van Valkenburg 2/4.
Injuries
Offense: Tino Allen, OUT; Kanoa Shannon, OUT; Trevon Bradford, OUT; Champ Flemings, OUT; Tino Allen, Limited Non-Contact; Tyjon Lindsey, Limited Non-Contact; Isaiah Hodgins, Limited Non-Contact; Calvin Tyler Jr., Limited Non-Contact;
Defense: Addison Gumbs, OUT; Jaydon Grant, OUT; David Morris, Limited Non-Contact; Shawn Wilson, Limited Non-Contact; Simon Sandberg, Limited Non-Contact; Jaden Robinson, Limited Non-Contact; Kaleb Hayes, Limited Non-Contact; Andrzej Hughes-Murray, Full;
