Spring Practice Report: April 6th Edition

Good summary, Eric.

Both our indoor and outdoor practice fields are FieldTurf, but the field in the stadium remains injury-inducing natural grass. /facepalm

Kelly must be pushing for FieldTurf in the stadium, or at least a hybrid surface. With all the changes he’s implemented recently, perhaps Swarbrick thinks a major change like that would be too much too soon.

I was going to write that there’s also a logo at midfield on one of the outdoor practice fields too.

I figured we didn’t need a poster coming here saying the whole team should be swallowed up by a crevice inducing earthquake because God is mad.

I just like putting it out there that we practice on FieldTurf as much as possible.

I am still worried about depth at running back. Cierre gets nicked, then what? Jonas the only one left? BCS teams have punishing ground games. Our Qb’s are not a threat to run. Riddick at rb?

If Wood gets hurt, yes things could look bad.

But I think Cam McDaniel is going to be a contributor and Roberson might be able to come back and get some carries. Worse case scenario Kelly could move Riddick back but I don’t think he wants to do that at all. Plus, George Atkinson can come in and do something too.

Eric, you’re the only one I’ve seen mention Hendrix and Golson running ball in one on one drills. I saw them in some film but, I didn’t make connection as to who they were at the time. Does that mean we need bodies for RB reps that badly or is Kelly getting the two ready for some contact?

I think it was just getting them ready for contact that’s all. Probably a nice drill to get them to play a little physical without having the threat of being absolutely blindsided or crushed from behind.

Jonas Gray reportedly has MCL strain. No medical report yet. Grades of injury — Grade 1 = inflammation, 1-2 weeks rest. Grade 2 = partial tear, 3-4 weeks. Grade 3 = complete tear, recovery time 6 weeks or longer. http://orthopedics.about.com/cs/kneeinjuries/a/mclinjury.htm

Chris Watt was seen on crutches with walking boot on left foot.

With Roberson out, Gray’s injury is more of a concern as far as reps and RBs available for the Blue-Gold game. Gray should be back for fall practice unless he has a Grade 3 injury or if the MCL sprain is not isolated.

How has no one invented a knee brace that football players can wear to seriously reduce the incidence of knee injury?

I trust last year’s rash of hamstring injuries will be avoided in the future with increased focus from Longo on strengthening the players’ posterior chains, but knee injuries are so unpredictable and potentially devastating.

Curse you, football gods.

Until we hear of a complete tear, I am not worried, Whiskeyjack. OLmen generally wear braces, which does reduce the risk of injury. Some RBs do. While you never get used to seeing players in braces and on crutches, resting and immobilizing the injured area is always great precautionary measures and part of therapeutic protocol in resting the knee or ankle.

It’s spring. Much better than in fall camp where it would impact the season. Gray and Watt are veterans, too. Nice to have Nuss who can play OG and OT.

I think that they should have put wood and gray in the biggest, strongest knee braces they could find as soon as roberson went down. Yikes. With Floyd’s loss, and no one else really stepping up, I don’t see how you can move riddick to rb. You need his experience and playmaking ability at wr.

I still think we’ll be fine, as I anticipate improved line and qb play, and an even better d. Let’s rememeber folks, the offensive skill position players put asses in the seats, but dominating up front and on D gets the W’s.

Let’s also not forget that we have Tate Nichols on our side. He doesn’t need to get his head in the game. The game gets in his head out of sheer fear.

Mouth

“*NT Louis Nix opened practice taking reps with the first team offense.”

Maybe he’s our answer to the running back situation. :)

Nice catch Erik. I made the correction. Or maybe he really was on offense!?!???