Spring Practice Report: Day 1
March 3, 2012
PHOTO OF THE DAY
The Hurricanes completed their first official spring practice Saturday morning on the Greentree Practice Fields. It was a beautiful warm day out, as all the players tried to make an impact on their coaches while engaging in position drills, 7-on-7 and full team action.
The Weather Report: 83 degrees, mostly cloudy with 60% humidity and winds out of the SSE at 15 mph.
Some of the early position drills included the QB’s moving around the pocket with Coach Fisch, linebackers practicing pass coverage and the quarterbacks, running backs and wide receivers breaking down different route schemes.
After the first set of position drills, the Canes moved on to 7-on-7 action, where transfer quarterback Ryan Williams was very accurate in the early going, connecting with Rashawn Scott and Philip Dorsett on a variety of routes. Scott also provided some shifty moves after the catch. Eduardo Clements and Dallas Crawford caught many balls out of the backfield from Williams. Early-enrollee Josh Witt had two pass deflections with the second-team defense, as the green jerseys had a lot more success than the first-team black jerseys in 7-on-7.
In the second set of position drills, some returnees stood out, including Anthony Chickillo and Vaughn Telemaque. Chickillo consistently shed his blocks in half-line drills, and Telemaque made some impressive plays on the ball in one-on-one coverage drills.
Quotes of the Day:
Coach Carroll to his tight ends, “You’re not allowed to juke, just go!”
Coach McDonald to the wide receivers, “Eyes to the tuck. That’s how they lost the Super Bowl.”
Following the second set of position drills the defense and offense lined up for full team action. This time the black jerseys showed some life, quickly swarming to the ball on a couple of screen plays. The green jerseys continued their strong play, picking up where they left off in the 7-on-7 drills providing good coverage. On offense, Mike James took a draw play to the house, while Dorsett made an acrobatic catch on a screen to cap off the full team drills.
Jersey Colors Explained:
Offense: Orange, first team; White, second team
Defense: Black, first team; Green, second team
Yellow: Limited
Red: No Contact (Quarterbacks and medical)
As the Canes went back to position drills, the action didn’t let up, as backup kicker/punter Alex Irastorza made a highlight reel-quality one-handed catch while working with the quarterbacks in passing drills.
Golden Nugget: During those drills, Coach Golden had this to say to a defensive back: “That’s who you’re taking to senior prom, stay with him!”
The Canes came back together for a second full-team session, where the first-team offense made some big plays. Ryan Williams continued to find his receivers and backs for big gains, including long passes to Clive Walford and James. Clements capped the session off by taking a draw play all the way up the middle.
Cane Spotting: Former Canes Gino Torretta, Don Bailey Jr, Gerard Daphnis and Tyler Horn were in attendance today to take in the first spring practice.
HurricaneSports.com’s Amy Audibert caught up with Horn…
Up Next: The Canes return to the Greentree Practice Fields tomorrow at 10 a.m. for the second of 15 spring outings. Canes fans are invited to watch the practice from 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m. for Fan Appreciation Day.
