[Note by River City Rage, 06/06/08 3:31 PM EDT ] Su héroe wrote his take on today's minicamp.  It's fantastic, and worth a look.  Big thanks for writing this!

Friday AM practice
Mini-camp report
 
First player out on the field was Tony McDaniel – a full 5 or 10 minutes before everyone else.
 
 
Limited or not participating:
Jerry Porter (sporting a hurricane relief hat)
Mike Walker (played some catch with Reggie Williams, but not much more – had a light wrap on his knee)
George Wrighster (played some catch and some sprints by himself)
Chauncey Washington (spent most of the practice riding the exercise bikes)
Brian Smith (spent most of the practice riding the exercise bikes)
*Injured – Rashean Mathis (knee) didn’t look serious.

Depth Chart (as of 6-06-08)
* Take it as it’s worth. It was just the first practice of mini-camp, but this is what I saw.
DEFENSE

LBs
1st)  D. Smith – Mike Pete – J. Durant
2nd) C. Ingram – T. Gilbert – B. Iwuh
3rd) B. Hawkins – Th. Williams – L. Miles
 
D-Line
1st) P. Spicer – J. Henderson – R. Meier – R. Hayward
2nd) D. Harvey – J. Kennedy – D. Landri – J. Wyche
3rd) Q. Groves – T. Horracks – T. McDaniel – J. Mincey

CBs
1st)  R. Mathis – D. Florence
2nd)  S. Starks – B. Witherspoon
3rd) Tr. Williams – M. Grant

FS
1st) R. Nelson
2nd) J. Fudge
3rd) G. Sensabaugh

SS
1st) B. Williams
2nd) G. Sensabaugh
3rd) P. Prileau


 
 
Calisthenics
They were in the same style as last year when Mike Pete ran back and forth with his hand up and then slams it down. Today though it looked like he passed the torch (or at least for today) to Brian Williams.

 

Up-Downs
Practice started with some of the new “up-downs” that new Defensive Coordinator Greg Williams brought to our team. They were a crowd favorite for sure…mostly because they were on the near field in front of the bleachers, but the players were having fun with them as well.
 
5 defensive players stand side by side and then drop flat to the ground – and then back to their feet – and then they drop again, but this time they have to tap the heavy bags 3 times with their hands and then they are off! They sprint to the 3 cones that are about 20 yards away. 5 players, but only 3 cones. The 2 that didn’t come up with a cone, dropped to give 10 push-ups at midfield.
 
Overall, it was a fun drill with players pushing each other as they dove for the cone. A couple notes:

Derek Landri showed why he has earned the nickname “Dirty” by plowing McDaniel over to get the cone. He got a nice cheer from the crowd.

Bran Witherspoon must truly be one of the fastest guys on the team since not once did he have any competition. I mean no one even challenged him for the middle cone. He ran alone while the other 2 cones had 4 people after competing.
 
 
 
11 on 11s
David Garrard started the drills by throwing a strike to John Broussard who was defended by Scott Starks.
 
The next pass was intended for Troy Williamson, but broken up at the last second by Reggie Nelson. Williamson had one drop today.
*Rashean Mathis came up limping after making a nice play breaking up a Bouman pass intended for Northcutt. He came back for a short period, but spent the rest of the practice on the sideline with his right knee wrapped. (Brian Williams replaced him at CB)
 
Cleo Lemon
Cleo Lemon threw a couple of good passes today, but overall he didn’t have a very good day. He did make a perfect throw to D’Juan Woods that was dropped. Woods had 2 drops.

Matt Jones made a nice one handed grab for 15 yards with new Jag Drayton Florence defending. Matt made a couple of nice grabs today.
 
Todd Bouman
Bouman had the play of the day when he threw a ball that went 50 yards in the air for a 65 yard TD pass to Troy Williamson who looked the ball in perfectly and caught it over his shoulder in full stride. He got some nice cheers from the crowd.
 
 
 
7 on 7s
*With no Rashean in there now, Briam Williams took his spot and Sensabaugh started at strong safety.
 
David Garrard
 
Matt Jones fell on his break on a timing route from Garrard. Brian Williams was in perfect position to pick off the pass and take it the other way, but he got his feet tangled up in Matt’s.
 
Northcutt found a hole in the D and caught a nice pass that went for about 20 yards
 
Garrard found Troy Williamson across the middle for 15 yards. This was Garrard’s best pass of the day.
 
Williamson also had a big gainer when he caught a 15 yard pass from Garrard, made a move on Witherspoon and was gone.
 
Cleo Lemon
Lemon threw a nice pass to Marcedes Lewis that went for 15 yards (good to see him back)
 
A few plays later though, he overthrew 6’-8” Estandia.
 
Todd Bouman
He had another perfect pass, this time to Greg Estandia that was broken up at the last minute by Brian Witherspoon. Even with Witherspoon all over him, Greg almost came up with that one.
 
 
Todd missed Reggie Williams pulling across the middle. Not a good pass.
 
 
 
 
11 on 11s (Part 2)
 
David Garrard
First play: David had no one open as the secondary was locked on to Williamson and Williams. He dumped it off to Mo-Jo.
 
Second play: Garrard felt major pressure from Paul Spicer. He rolled to his right though and found Matt Jones for 15-20 yards. Brian Williams and Reggie Nelson on the coverage.
 
Third play: This was a quick strike on a wheel route to Mo-Jo who caught the D off guard and went for 30 yards and might have been gone.
 
Next series: Garrard pump faked, looked downfield, but ended up dumping it off to G-Jones who really looked good today. He caught that pass and then really had a burst when he turned up field. He’s back!!
 
Garrard had major pressure from Quentin Groves and James Wyche, but he got it out to Williamson for 15 yards.
 
Garrard was really getting some pressure as Tony McDaniel took Tutan Reyes and pushed him back all the way to the QB. Incomplete.
 
The next play was a draw and caught the D off guard. They all missed Freddy T who went for 20 yards.
 
Garrard made a perfect pass to G-Jones across the middle, but it was incomplete only because Mike Pete made and even better defensive play on the ball.
 
Cleo Lemon
First Play: Quick strike to Matt Jones for 10 yards. Trae Williams on the coverage.
 
Second play: Cleo felt major pressure from the D-Line and threw the ball away.
 
 
Autograph winners – They signed for 15-20 minutes after practice
Jerry Porter
David Garrard
Mo-Jo
Reggie Williams
Jeron Harvey
Joey Z
Kickers
 
 
 
 
A few extra notes
* Reggie Williams looked slim. I mean like 200 lbs. I asked him after practice and he said his weight was the same, he has just re-chiseled himself.

*Jimmy Kennedy was smaller than I expected.
 
* Richard Collier had some reps with the 1st team today. He and Barnes rotated. Collier also seemed to be the starter on the short yartage plays.
 
* Big John shaved his head bald!