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🏈 Football Practice Insider 3/13/25 Spring Practice Observations
- Thread starter Mark Wheeler
- Start date
One thing I want to continue to stress is that what you read in our Practice Observations Updates is that we are reporting on what we see in the moment - right then and there. I try to move around to each station every practice, though I didn't see the defensive backs today.
So, on to what I did see.
A pair of freshmen, Lagonza Hayward (true) and Josiah Davis (redshirt) were the two leading the safeties group during the open viewing session.
The running back group spent a portion of the viewing session working on their blocking skills. Jadan Baugh, who looks to be as thick as any Florida running back that comes to mind in recent memory, isn't just wasted size, he was physical during the drill.
Out of all of the recent changes to college football, capping the total number of players at 105 has to be one of the ones that hurt UF the most. Billy Napier spent a lot of effort building up the walk-on program over his first two and a half years only to have the rug pulled out from under him. In a deep room, who knows if he will see the field, but another built running back is walk-on Kelvin Jimenez. He might be the second biggest back, and he is physical and was a player that got an 'atta boy' during drills.
Earlier this week Edge George Gumbs Jr. was talking about how violent freshman Jayden Woods can be. He got a taste of it first hand as they were going head-to-head during drills.
During a couple of sessions now we've got to see the Edges practice dropping into coverage. Woods looks more comfortable doing it than some of the older players. Considering his size (he is the tallest edge and goes over 260-pounds) LJ McCray looks more fluid than you would think. That likely has a lot to do with also being a tight end in high school. There are a couple of those guys at the position, just watching their hips during the drill, the coaches probably will avoid having them drop as much as possible. They might fill a lane, but they don't look athletic enough in coverage to actually stick with anyone.
I would bet at this point Jamari Lyons is still in the black non-contact jersey as more of a precautionary measure than his ankle still hindering him because he looked like he wasn't haveing any issues, or holding back at all. He looked full speed to me. Of the defensive tackles out there, he looks like he carries his weight the best with Tarvorise Brown not far behind. I am shocked at the progress he has made. Last year they were stopping drills to go over the basics with him and having him do things a couple of times in a row to correct him. I haven't seen that so far this spring.
It just sounds different when Aaron Chiles makes contact with another player during drills. As it is, he looked college ready as a high school senior, not he looks down right intimidating, and as physical as he is, I'm sure his teammates don't mind when they miss going up against him in any kind of contact drill.
So, on to what I did see.
A pair of freshmen, Lagonza Hayward (true) and Josiah Davis (redshirt) were the two leading the safeties group during the open viewing session.
The running back group spent a portion of the viewing session working on their blocking skills. Jadan Baugh, who looks to be as thick as any Florida running back that comes to mind in recent memory, isn't just wasted size, he was physical during the drill.
Out of all of the recent changes to college football, capping the total number of players at 105 has to be one of the ones that hurt UF the most. Billy Napier spent a lot of effort building up the walk-on program over his first two and a half years only to have the rug pulled out from under him. In a deep room, who knows if he will see the field, but another built running back is walk-on Kelvin Jimenez. He might be the second biggest back, and he is physical and was a player that got an 'atta boy' during drills.
Earlier this week Edge George Gumbs Jr. was talking about how violent freshman Jayden Woods can be. He got a taste of it first hand as they were going head-to-head during drills.
During a couple of sessions now we've got to see the Edges practice dropping into coverage. Woods looks more comfortable doing it than some of the older players. Considering his size (he is the tallest edge and goes over 260-pounds) LJ McCray looks more fluid than you would think. That likely has a lot to do with also being a tight end in high school. There are a couple of those guys at the position, just watching their hips during the drill, the coaches probably will avoid having them drop as much as possible. They might fill a lane, but they don't look athletic enough in coverage to actually stick with anyone.
I would bet at this point Jamari Lyons is still in the black non-contact jersey as more of a precautionary measure than his ankle still hindering him because he looked like he wasn't haveing any issues, or holding back at all. He looked full speed to me. Of the defensive tackles out there, he looks like he carries his weight the best with Tarvorise Brown not far behind. I am shocked at the progress he has made. Last year they were stopping drills to go over the basics with him and having him do things a couple of times in a row to correct him. I haven't seen that so far this spring.
It just sounds different when Aaron Chiles makes contact with another player during drills. As it is, he looked college ready as a high school senior, not he looks down right intimidating, and as physical as he is, I'm sure his teammates don't mind when they miss going up against him in any kind of contact drill.