Watched more of the offense tonight.  Right to it, bad news first:

~ They ran the two minute drill to end the session.  Set up the offense on their own 40, gave them 1:30 on the clock, and told them they had one timeout.  And I think they said “you need at least a field goal”.  77% certain on that.

So they start the drive.  After a couple incomplete passes, Juice hits Chris Duvalt on third down to keep the drive going.  A couple more nice passes and they’re on the 15 with about :28 on the clock, but the receiver can’t get out of bounds and they burn the timeout.  Next play Juice is sacked, they scramble around trying to get another play off, and the clock runs out as Juice throws an incomplete jump ball to Cumberland in the corner of the endzone.

I know, I know – just a scrimmage, defense knows the two minute drill formations by now, players were tired, yada yada yada.  I just wanted to see crisp, and I saw panic.  I wanted to see in control and instead saw confusion.  A jump ball to Cumberland as the clock runs out was not the thing to send me to my car with warm fuzzies.

OK – got that out and feel better now.

~ Who are you, Joelil Thrash?  Better question: What are they feeding cornerbacks in the greater Washington DC area that makes them all so great-y?  He stuck out to me this morning, and stuck out again this evening, even before he read Eddie’s eyes, jumped a route, and returned an INT to the house.  He was working a lot with the second string defense (Miami Thomas, Bo Flowers, Supo Sanni, and Thrash seemed to be the second team secondary), which means he might have already jumped past guys like Patrick Nixon-Youman and Antonio Gully.  I don’t expect to see much from him this year – I’m guessing he might still redshirt – but he makes me feel even better about the cornerbacks going forward.

~ When lining up 11 on 11, they seemed to run the dime package out there a ton.  The set that was out there a lot was Nurse-Smith-Pilcher on the line, Martez and Ian Thomas at linebacker, and Hicks-Flowers-Edwards-Hardeman-Bellamy-Wilson in the secondary.  Interesting.  The nickel seems to be Bellamy added to the Hicks-Hardeman-Edwards-Wilson secondary with WLB Russell Ellington dropping off.

~ Watched the punt returners working on pulling in the ball.  And they all looked perfect for the role.  Jarred Fayson is clearly the guy, but seeing Terry Hawthorne and Jack Ramsey catching punts made me rather giddy for the future.

~ Here’s your backup plan if something happens to Eric Block: With Block sitting out this evening with a mild concussion, Jon Asamoah slid over to center and Jack Cornell played right guard.

~ Watched the running backs working through footwork drills.  Jason Ford and Justin Green looked strong.  Mikel LeShoure looked, I don’t know, uninspired?  I loved what I saw from him in the spring.  Ford clearly looked stronger tonight, both in drills and on the field.  And the ball in the flat that LeShoure dropped isn’t helping his case for more carries.  He and Daniel Dufrene had to stay after practice for some up-downs to pay for their ball-dropping sins.

~ Joe Gilbert is fiery.  And that fire seemed to be focused on Ryan Palmer this evening.  I think this was a good thing – challenge him to become better and whatnot – but every time I heard Gilbert’s voice, it seemed that Palmer’s name was being mentioned.

~ Justin Green flat-out broke one in the 11-on-11.  I think it was a missed assignment, because he shot a gap and was gone like Dufrene in the 2007 Ohio State game.  Nice to see.

~ Nate Bussey flat-out missed Justin Green in the 11-on-11.  I think he missed his assignment, because Green shot a gap and was gone like Dufrene in the 2007 Ohio State game.  Not very nice to see.

~ I love Chris James.  Apropos of nothing, he turns to Mike Schultz on the sideline and, from twenty yards away, says “Hey Coach Schultz… Hey Coach Schultz… Hey Coach Schultz… Hey Coach Schultz” (Schultz finally looks up) “How do you like Rantoul??” (Schultz gives a thumbs up and a smile) “Allriiiiiiight!”