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ES Coverage: 2008 Mini-Camp - Day 1 (Final)

JimmiJo

By JimmiJo
in The Stadium

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JimmiJo

JimmiJo

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ES COVERAGE: 2008 MINI-CAMP - DAY 1

05/02/08

Cooley050208.JPG

:helmet:

Hello, is this thing on?

Greetings my friends and welcome to the 2008 Washington Redskins Mini-Camp! My name is JimmiJo and I am here in the media room at Redskins Park in Ashburn Virginia. Soon I will be joined by my partner, the inimitable Brian Murphy. Together we will bring you the best camp-coverage available on the Internet - provided he is not drunk still from last night or wets himself in the excitement.

The sun is out, the temps are mild, and today we will get our very first look at Coach Jim Zorn in action. After two years of covering camps and OTAs under Coaches Gibbs and Williams, I am anxious to see how camp is run under Zorn and Blache. This should be interesting as Zorn has never been a head coach or coordinator in the NFL.

Blache on the other hand I've seen dozens of times in action. From what I've seen when he coached the line he is not a screamer, although I've seen him get his point across with the squad when he needs to. This isn't new territory for Coach Blache, as he was the coordinator in Chicago some years back (and successful too).

We have two practices today with the first one starting at 11:00AM and going until 12:45PM. The second one will run 3:25-5:00PM. We will be here for it all.

I will share any tidbits I get before practice starts.

:helmet:

End of 1st Practice - Day 1

Murf and I are just up from the fields where we witnessed the first-ever practice in the Jim Zorn era. When he told the media the other day that he has a loud voice and can use it, he was not joking. I heard Jim Zorn on the fields more today than in two years of covering Coach Gibbs.

I can tell you that he is a take-charge kind of guy. We learned this when he stopped a 7-on-7 play to yell at the assistants coaches to get back from the line of scrimmage, resulting in Coach Bugel sprinting to get away from the play. Zorn showed no hesitation in giving players hell, veterans and rookies alike. Jason Campbell heard about it a few times, as did Devin Thomas.

I am going to get some audio up and then Murf and I need to eat before the next practice. I know you guys want to hear about the football and we will get you that as well as lots of photos.

Stand By...

:helmet:

1st Practice Notes

Here's some notes on the 1st practice.

- Everyone looks a bit rusty, which is to be expected for the first practice in a while, one that also includes rookies.

- Fred Davis made a move in traffic across the middle that impressed the hell out of me. After catching the ball he cut to the left to avoid the LB. It wasn't so much that he made the guy miss, or that he did something no-one else can do. Rather it was the swiftness and grace with which he did it.

- If any of you watched the Art Monk press conference here after he was elected the hall of fame, you may recall he spoke about how in his 1st year rookies got helmets with no logos, and that you had to "earn your feathers." Well it looks like that story resonated with someone around here as to a man the rookies today are wearing plain burgundy helmets.

- For the guy that PM'd me; the offense is in white jerseys and defense is in burgundy. Pretty standard fare around here for camps.

- Coach Zorn has his son Isaac here with him today, helping collect balls and set up drills. I hear he is 13 years old.

- Play of the day was Anthony Mix catching a long sideline bomb from Jason Campbell with John Eubanks hanging all over him. He bobbled the ball a few times and then brought it in at the corner of the end zone. For the record Eubanks says he was out of bounds. For the record none of us believed him.

- Stephon Heyer looks to be in much better shape than this time last year. The best way to describe it is to say he lost a lot of baby-fat. He says he spent the offseason boxing.

- Stephen Tate, a DB from Hofstra made a very nice interception of a Todd Collins throw. As did Kevin Mitchell, safety out of Illinois, who picked off Sam Hollenbach.

- Clinton Portis says he wants to go down and drive one of Joe Gibbs' race cars before the season starts. I'm betting against.

MORNING AUDIO

To listen to comments from Chris Cooley, click HERE

To listen to comments from Chris Samuels, click HERE

To listen to comments from Anthony Montgomery, click HERE

To listen to comments from Fred Davis, click HERE

To listen to comments from Devin Thomas, click HERE

To listen to comments from Stephon Heyer, click HERE

To listen to comments from Mike Sellers, click HERE

To listen to comments from Jon Jansen, click HERE

To listen to comments from Andre Carter, click HERE

AFTERNOON AUDIO

To listen to comments from London Fletcher, click HERE

To listen to comments from Malcolm Kelly, click HERE

To listen to comments from Demetric Evans, click HERE

To listen to comments from Casey Rabach, click HERE

To listen to comments from Phillip Daniels, click HERE

To listen to comments from Alex Buzbee, click HERE

To listen to comments from Marcus Washington, click HERE

To listen to comments from Rock Cartwright, click HERE

To listen to comments from Fred Smoot, click HERE

:helmet:

PHOTOS

Murf Photos 1

http://www.extremeskins.com/forums/showthread.php?t=246311

Murf Photos 2

http://www.extremeskins.com/forums/showthread.php?t=246312

Murf Photos 3

http://www.extremeskins.com/forums/showthread.php?t=246313

Murf Photos 4

http://www.extremeskins.com/forums/showthread.php?t=246314

:helmet:

JimmiJo's Corner

Well, Day 1 of the 2008 Redskins mini-camp is in the book. We’ve witnessed the first two practices under Jim Zorn and I can tell you that the laid-back California boy has no problem getting into some ass when he needs to. Shawn Springs intercepted a pass and on the run back lateralled to Smoot who then ended up fumbling the ball.

“Don’t do that!” yelled Zorn, running towards Springs, “Don’t mess around like that! If you get the ball you run with the ball!”

Zorn was asked about his first practice. “I thought all the preparation that we have done was executed very well out here,” he said. “I am very happy with how guys worked and how guys finished, great effort with the ball.”

I wrote in the 1st practice notes that the rookies were wearing helmets with no logos. Zorn was asked about this. “We decided to take those off for several reasons,” he said. “One, there are names on the back of the jerseys just so we can remember who they are, especially the new coaches. Secondly, I think without the logo there are a couple of things there. One, it tells you who the young guy is. Two, those young guys look at the logo and then they have a sense of something that they want to earn, especially at the end of training camp, earn the right to have that decal on the helmet.”

Man, you gotta love that.

Practice was very much like last year with a few exceptions. One difference was they used a target net for the quarterbacks to work out with. I’m sure Murf will have photos of this later but for now I’ll describe it as a framed net with three different-colored squares in the center with pockets in the center of the squares. The object is for the QB to throw the ball inside the square with the color the coach calls. Zorn was asked about this and gave a very good explanation of how using it helps the QB. Watch the video on Redskins.com to hear it.

BTW – I think it is great how much football talk you get out of Zorn. While Gibbs is a legend to us fans, he was so polished with the press that you rarely got anything of substance out of him in terms of football talk. In Zorn we have a guy that will tell you exactly what something means from a football standpoint. If you’re lucky like me, he’ll even explain that names go on the backs of jerseys…

I spent a lot of time during the second practice observing the defensive line and the new D-line coach, John Palermo. I wanted to watch Palermo work to see how he managed the squad. A 29-year veteran of coaching, Palermo has coached at the collegiate level only. I wanted to see how he handled professional, veteran players. He seemed to do well.

I saw him get into some of the young guys during the first practice during 7-on-7s. It was a brief, but effective tongue-lashing. Working with just the line however, he reminded me a bit of Coach Blache; not especially loud or intense. One difference between he and Blache I did notice was that he never stops teaching. On almost every drill he moved among the squad, teaching and correcting.

I watched Stump Mitchell work with the running backs this morning. Former RB coach Earnest Byner was a favorite of mine to watch and I wanted to see the difference with Mitchell. Mitchell is more assertive with the squad, and appears to do a lot more teaching with his guys. He is a little louder than Byner, though not meaner. He seemed to focus more on fundamentals with all the backs, coaching them on footwork and route-running.

The one coach I really didn’t get to hear much from was Offensive Coordinator Sherman Smith. I saw him positioned behind the offense during the 7-on-7s, 9-on-9s, and 11-on-11s, but he was not as animated as Zorn and Bugel (Bugel gave a few of the youngsters hell today).

As those two or three of you who read me regularly on camp-coverage know, I am a fan of Greg Blache. Today however, I may have developed a perma-mancrush. When asked if his offense would feature fewer packages, he answered with no hesitation, “Yes,” he said. “We’ll have fewer packages. Our stuff will be tailor-made for our players.”

I love that.

As far as the football today, I would say that the defense ruled the afternoon. In fact, the quarterbacks were violated today as corners and linebackers served up Interception-Fest 2008 out there. While I mentioned earlier that the QBs looked rusty, by the end of practice I was starting to believe that maybe adjusting to the new offense was the problem.

The Redskins had four active QBs today, Jason Campbell, Todd Collins, Sam Hollenbach, and a guy from Iowa State named Bret Meyer. Colt Brennan is here but watched all day. Speaking of Meyer, I don’t want to say that he is not a great prospect, but I would not be surprised if he was gone tomorrow.

Not too good.

I’m sure many of you have questions about the new offense. The team normally asks that we don’t write about specific packages and plays. They don’t have to worry about that much this year as what we saw was very generic with most passing plays going to the flat or quick slants across the middle. As I mentioned above the defense took advantage of the QBs today, jumping routes during the final 11-on-11s today, picking or breaking up passes. In speaking to some of the offensive guys after practice, they told me the biggest adjustment so far is the terminology.

As far as our new receivers, the only one that stood out to me was Devin Thomas. I honestly don’t remember seeing Kelly doing much of anything. I wrote earlier how I was impressed with Fred Davis’ running. He continued to look good in the afternoon.

Portis looked solid, as did Rock Cartwright and Marcus Mason. Nehemiah Broughton was out there but I didn’t notice much noteworthy. Ladell Betts I thought looked rusty; his routes did not appear crisp and he didn’t look great overall I thought. Towards the end of practice he injured his right leg. He described the injury as a twisted ankle, but said he will be fine moving forward.

I know a lot of you want to know about line play. I’m not sure I can answer intelligently as in non-contact drills this is the hardest area to judge. I watched Chad Rinehart a bit. He is a big dude. When I saw him he was playing tackle, although the team says he will play guard and maybe even snap a bit. He looked ok, although I think he got smoked a time or two by guys like Chris Wilson and Demetric Evans.

Stephon Heyer played tackle and looked good.

Ok, I’ve jabbered enough. Plus, I got two more days to tell you about camp.

See you tomorrow.

Quotes of the Day

“This is an exact science.” – Coach Danny Smith to the special teams guys during a drill

“Don’t stand up! Don’t stand up! Stay low!” – Coach Zorn to Jason Campbell during 7-on-7s

“Come on Anthony, you’ve been waiting for this your whole life!” – Coach Zorn to Anthony Mix prior to the snap during 11-on-11s (Mix caught a sideline bomb for a touchdown on the play)

“That was a good throw right there, but you were still in college.” – Coach Zorn to Devin Thomas after a pass sailed out of range because he ran a bad route

“Get on the ball! Get on the ball! Don’t be looking!” – Coach Bugel to a lineman who failed to run downfield with the play

“Come on Rob, get your ass in the air and get off the ball!” – Coach John Palermo to Rob Jackson during 9-on-9 drills

“Don’t waste a rep! Don’t waste a rep when you’re up!” – Coach Danny Smith to the special teams squad

:helmet:

Murf's Take

Hello again, friends (and I use the term loosely). It really is hard for me to believe it’s that time again already. Maybe because the Wizards and the Capitals don’t typically make the playoffs in the same season I’m used to a little bit longer layoff or something, but it felt like this offseason was incredibly short. As Casey Rabach told me, “The older you get, the shorter the offseason gets.”

With Joe Gibbs and Gregg Williams gone I was very interested to see what was kept and what was changed from previous seasons. A pessimist might say the ‘Skins have a rookie head coach in over his head and a defensive coordinator who was closer than you think to retirement this past offseason running the show. I’ll take the “wait and see approach.”

My first impression of Zorn is that he clearly doesn’t look like an NFL head coach. We joked on the sidelines that he would look comfortable in flip flops and with a surfboard in his hands than in anything you’ve seen Grandpa Gibbs sport over the years. But just when you start to doubt this guy, practice begins and you immediately notice something about the rookie coach – he may not look the part, but he definitely sounds the part. He’s very involved and if you close your eyes and just listen to him in between plays, there’s no doubt he’s the man in charge.

And lest you think he’s a Steve Spurrier kind of guy, he’s talking to defensive players too. On one particular play, Shawn Springs picked off an errant pass and pitched it back to Fred Smoot who juggled the ball for a few steps before Jon Jansen sent him flying. Immediately, Zorn came flying in and basically said, “cut the @#$%. We don’t do that here.” More than anything else, that moment stuck out today because, as one veteran writer put it “I guess the inmates won’t be running the asylum around here anymore.”

On the other side of the ball you couldn’t really tell much of anything was different. Coach Blache said after practice that the players dictate the type of defense you play, not the coach, and that he planned to run a very similar style compared to the top 10 defense we’ve grown accustomed to around here. Talking with the defensive quarterback, London Fletcher, after practice he basically echoed what Blache said – not much has changed, which I would speculate is a good thing.

As Papa John pointed out, the quarterbacks, more than any other position, looked rusty today. Jason Campbell showed flashes, but mostly looked like a guy stepping on the practice field for the first minicamp of the year. Todd “The Tasty Drink” Collins didn’t fare any better, and actually threw a couple interceptions in the afternoon practice that I wouldn’t expect to see from him. Sam Hollenbach, who I’ll have to report on because JimmiJo isn’t capable of toning down his man-love for, looked better in the morning than he did in the afternoon. After completing a series of nice passes in the first practice I turned to JimmiJo and said “if he plays like this I wouldn’t be shocked for him to be the third-string QB this year.” But the afternoon session reminded me how far Hollenbach has to go to latch on to a team full time. I’d mention Bret Meyer, the rookie QB out of Iowa State, but by the time you learn his name he’ll be gone.

Onto the rookies, who I’ll admit, have a much tougher schedule than in previous years. Take LaRon Landry and friends from a year ago. They had a rookie camp, so the first time I saw Landry he was easily the best player on the field. Today, we’re looking at the rookies, while they’re sharing the field with established veterans. That makes it a helluva lot harder for them to stand out.

In my opinion, Devin Thomas was incredibly nervous this morning. Take a look at my photos and you’ll see him drop more than a few passes he should have caught. The good news is, he warmed up as the day went on and looked perfectly fine by the end of the day. In fact, Thomas made one of the two best plays of the day, by reaching back for a pass that was thrown behind him and hauling in a beauty of a catch that earned cheers from his peers.

Fred Davis, who I admit I wasn’t exactly thrilled with when they drafted him, looked to be the most steady throughout both practices. Folks on the sideline were commenting on his explosiveness, especially after making a catch. Add in what was probably my favorite interview of the day, and I’m now rooting for Mr. Davis to make an impact. Malcolm Kelly didn’t get as many passes thrown his way as Thomas, but he didn’t drop as many either. I talked to him about the biggest difference between college and the pros and he said everything has to be perfect. For example, if he’s a little off on a route, they know it and the coaches call him on it. I talked to a few people today who have interacted with him more than I have and they assured me that this kid seems like a good guy, and not the malcontent he was reported to be during the draft process. None of the other faces really stood out. I asked Casey Rabach how Chad Rinehart looked today and he replied, “Which number was he?” kind of puts a rookie in his place, huh?

One of the highlights of the day for me was asking anyone and everyone for their early favorite for the “Taylor Jacobs Award,” given to the best practice player whose game disappears once the regular season begins. I wasn’t really sure who would be the frontrunner for the esteemed award, which has been given to players such as Jesse Lumsden, Robert McCune and Jimmy Farris. This year, the favorite seems to be Anthony Mix, who gets plenty of love from Coach Zorn and Jason Campbell during interviews and could very well battle James Thrash and Jerome Mathis for the final wide receiver spot on the roster. (But, for what it’s worth, I’ll point out that I’m not the only person who thinks Mathis won’t be around too long). Five votes went to Mix, two votes went to Malcolm Kelly, and the best/most random vote of the day went to rookie punter Durant Brooks (and no, it wasn’t Derrick Frost).

All in all, today was very much the first day of camp. The level of play was uneven. The defense outplayed the offense for much of the seven on seven drills. Quarterbacks looked very rough around the edges. But no one was wearing pads, so mostly it gave the coaches a chance to see which players are running the correct routes or how their footwork is, etc. As far as first days go, this one was a good one.

:helmet:

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JimmiJo

JimmiJo

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jey JJ what kind of camera do you shoot with?

Me? Pentax. Today however you will revel in the glory of Murf's work, which is done on a Nikon with a big-ass lens (400mm).

With my little 300mm, I can say that yes, I have lens-envy (he is quite tall).

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