First I'll give a shout out to those CSR members that joined me first at Monster Subs and then in the stands at the stadium. There is no doubt the day was much more enjoyable having the banter of BW Smith (with his better half), Terrible Metaphor Guy (and his 2 buddies), Scott Swope, Scrantsj, Cole (Who drove down from Louisville) and Goose Creek (with his daughter). We had another 5 or 6 people that met us at Monster Subs (like Campground Brad) but we never saw them at the stadium. It was pretty crowded, largest crowd I've seen for the first day at Wofford. Thanks to all it was a blast!
I have a few short videos to come a little later once I get the upload process worked out (phone died). Here are notable plays from the first 11 on 11 session. I should mention they are practicing in shells and not full pads so there was no tackling involved.
- Colin Cole blew past the RG (Turner) to blow up a HB stretch to the right side
- Pilares catches a deep bomb from Newton down the right side for a TD (had 5 yards on closest DB)
- D-Will makes a nice cut off RT for a nice gain.
- Barner goes off LG and makes some nice cuts
- McNutt makes a nice play on the ball that was under thrown but fails to come up with it
- Byndom makes a nice play on a ball thrown behind the WR a little
- Underwood has a drop
- Blitz had three players on DA before he could finish his drop back
Next Session, punting drills:
- Nortman is booming punts
- All three PR had a drop in catching the punts: Cason, Barner and Philly Brown. I will say Barner's only came after Charles Godfrey yelled at him right as he was catching it (no excuse though right?). Otherwise Barner caught the ball smoothly. Same for Cason. Brown not so much.
- Back-up punter shanked at least three kicks
Next 11 on 11 session:
- DA hits Benjamin for a deep TD
- Pilares goes up high to snag a pass
- Barner makes a nice cut going off LT
- Philly Brown catches a deep pass
- Byndom picks off Newton on a sideline pass and sprints down the right sideline
- UDFA WR Marcus Lucas (6'4" 218) makes a nice catch over the middle
- Benjamin makes a nice grab on sideline pass left
- Underwood catches a pass in traffic
- Blanton makes an ugly pass on a post route
- TE Jefferson (6'6" 255) makes a nice short yardage catch and turns up field like a boss. I would not want to tackle that guy.
- Toney Clemmons makes a nice catch across the middle but then has the ball stripped after a few steps
General Observations:
- Kelvin Benjamin was catching everything and yes, the kid is huge. He is noticeably taller than most around him. Most impressive to me was the soft hands. If Benjamin doesn't turn into a star at some point I'll be completely shocked.
- Kenjon Barner looks bigger and is playing with more confidence
- CB Carrington Byndom (UDFA) is making plays and turning heads. He's listed at 177lbs but I think he's put on a little weight. At 5'11" he's not little so he is a guy to watch.
- Nate Chandler appeared to be handling Hardy pretty well. They continued to rotate Bell and Chandler but right now my guess is Chandler ends up on the left side and Bell goes back to RT.
- Trai Turner is a wide body player who is squared off like a dryer. He looks the part of RG for sure.