Day two of Cincinnati’s Fall football practices was a polar opposite of the first day, in which the coaches and players slogged through a pouring rain and 60-degree temperatures. UC’s helmets glistened in the sunlight on a picture perfect Friday.
It’s difficult to tell where the team is right now. We’re only through two practices and the players aren’t even wearing full pads let alone tackling each other. The Bearcats’ practices are basically walk throughs at this point, warm ups for more intense ones over the next few weeks. Naturally, with the defense’s hands tied behind its back, the offensive players can basically fly through their drills uncontested. We know UC’s going to light up the scoreboard this Fall but the offense looks artificially light years ahead of the defense.
That should steadily balance out as we make it through the month of August.
Regardless, practice was “organized chaos” as usual on both sides today. Here’s some notes from this afternoon’s session.
- Virginia transfer Jamil Kamara is indeed practicing with team. He was running with the rest of the receivers in warm ups and position drills but didn’t participate in any of the formation drills even with the fourth stringers. Kamara literally joined the team yesterday and is way behind everyone else, so he’ll play on the practice squad this Fall.
- Andrew Gantz has got a cannon of a right leg. During warm ups he nailed both a 50- and 55-yard field goal. He made them up until 58-yards away but narrowly missed a 60-yarder. Gantz had the leg but not the accuracy. It sailed wide left but he could have made it from 65 if it was just a little more to the right.
- We’re getting a little better sense for the two-deep Tommy Tuberville has in mind. The starting defensive line is Silverberry Mouhon, Cortez Broughton, Chris Burton, and Mark Wilson (of the 23 sacks as a senior in high school variety).
- While Broughton and Burton lined up with the first team defense today, Sione Tongamoa and Hakeem Allonce make up the rotation at defensive tackle. All four will probably see equal reps this Fall.
- Sophomore running back Mike Boone again lined up next to Gunner Kiel but Hosey Williams got some run there. For now it looks like the depth chart here is Boone, Williams, and Tion Green.
- Ho hum, Chris Moore had a one handed catch while leaping backwards today.
- Jarred Evans, moved from quarterback, lined up as a second string cornerback today. The coaches clearly don’t want that athleticism to go to waste.
- Grant Coleman, Carter Jacobs, Adrian Witty, and I’d have to verify this but I believe it was Zach Edwards who make up the first team secondary. Evans, Andre Jones, Alex Thomas, and Davon Witherspoon are their backups.
- Lakota West product Braxton Neal, like Ross Trail, had an up and down first two days of practice. His game is unrefined at this point as he sometimes took too many steps on quick curls and too few on deep posts. He also had a few drops and slipped on routes. But at the same time Neal made some nice catches today and clearly has the heart and drive to improve himself. That kind of mentality will make him a star player at Cincinnati.
- Your punt return rotation appears to be a battle between Shaq Washington and Max Morrison, with Brayden Beard and Frank Labady in the mix.
- Among notable players held out, cornerback Aaron Brown, who has been nursing a lingering injury, was the only one I saw walking around in street clothes.
- Ending on uniforms again, here’s a closer look at the grey captain’s practice uniforms I mentioned yesterday. For effectively throwaway jerseys, Under Armour did a nice job with them and I would definitely pay a good chunk of change for one I can call my own.
Cincinnati Bearcats receiver Shaq Washington in UC Under Armour grey uniforms.