The sun was out in Winston-Salem and the players were in full throttle in practice as the April 17th Spring Game draws closer.
Here are my observations and notes from the practice.
Click through for notes on Wake Forest Spring Practice
- Started with the usual stretches and drills at the practice field. The players and coaches all seemed to be pretty upbeat and more enthusiastic than usual.
- Short sprints, pushups, stretches, catches, route running, and cone drills were all part of the standard warm-up today. Stretching went a little longer today and there was an emphasis on staying hydrated at each station.
- Ted Stachitas was out there but had no pads and didn't participate in drills. He was seen throwing a few balls and doing some stretches on the sideline. Quan Rucker was still not in pads. Kenny Okoro wasn't on the field. Shane Popham was there but did not participate in drills. Lovell Jackson is still recovering and was not on the field either.
- Lee Malchow continued to work out on the side by himself. He looks impressive to be only 4 months clear of a major leg injury, but a limp is still obvious and he is nowhere near game shape.
- Michael Campanaro left midway through practice and came back out without pads on. It was unclear what the injury was.
- Focused on more drills that incorporated the quarterbacks throwing to wide receivers, who were being covered by the cornerbacks. In these drills the wide receivers looked much better than the defensive backs. Marshall
Williams and Yloo Brown were especially impressive. Brown looked uncoverable at times and ran some very crisp routes that the CB's could not keep pace with. - Skylar Jones threw a few good balls, especially on out routes, and showed a good zip in his passes to go along with his mobility.
- Brendan Cross made some good passes, but also showed his youth and inexperience by underthrowing some of the longer passes and misleading receivers.
- There was some emphasis on the triple option today, but it was nowhere near as prevalent as it was during the previous practices. The majority of the drills were run without defensive coverages.
- There was an increased workload in the skeleton drills and the shotgun formation. It was in these drills that Cross threw some really good passes and looked the most comfortable.
- The defense ran several scoops and score drills and coach Brad Lambert was really getting after people that were not giving it their all.
- The DE's and DL's really hustled well and worked hard.
The work ethic was improved today and everybody seemed to have a better spirit at practice that had been missing so far during the spring workouts. Although Wake Forest is going to have a young
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