My observations from IMG

As I posted earlier in the day, I live across the street from IMG and could see a steady flow of cars into the facility a good 3 hours before the 5pm start time.  Fortunately I could walk over and avoid the traffic. The facility is not designed for that type of turnout on a regular basis. It is an amazing facility with an incredible amount of land but access to the football facility is one side street. They like it that way to keep their privacy.  I would love to know how far some of the people came to be there. I was not expecting 5k to show up to watch practice.

As I walk up to the bleachers I am at field level. There is a clock counting down the time to the 5pm start. Players are all on the field getting loose.  First person I see is Jake Butt and then Shane Morris.  I couldn’t believe how big these guys are up close and personal.  Just huge – even Shane I was like…dang he is thick. 

Harbaugh runs out onto the field and waves his cap at the crowd.  The crowd gives him a standing O which was really cool.  Our way of saying thank you for restoring order in this universe.  They then begin practice with stretching and light running (shocking I know).  They then break off into groups (O-line, D-line, LB’s, DB’s, QB’s & Centers, RB’s, WR’s, TE’s) for drills.  Jabrill was working with LB’s for these drills.

Everything about practice is very efficient and organized – quite impressive.  There is a clock on the field for each segment of practice.  Once it hits zero, they move to the next segment of practice.  Very little wasted time (literally seconds) between moving the next area of practice.  They work hard and it looks fun.  It wasn’t a “running your balls off” type of practice that many of us were accustomed to from our high school days.  Probably not as important for Spring ball as it is for Fall camp.   There was so much going on that it was hard to take it all in. 

Don Brown was getting after it.  He is intense on that field and is not Wilfred Brimley – he was demonstrating tackling drills and rolling around on the ground like he was 20 years old.  He really brings some fire. 

The 1’s and 2’s got to practice for the first hour, then were joined by the rest of the team for the rest of practice.  First tier of QB’s were O’Korn, Shane and Speight.  I think all of the early enrollees were with the second group except Ahmir Mitchell who was with the 1’s and 2’s for this practice.

Could see many IMG players in the stands watching practice.  Did not see any recruiting violations or anyone really talking to them.  They were just hanging out, goofing off like high school kids do.  Plus the compliance magnets were out to prevent any violations 

Some observations:

-          Shane looked really good today.  Looked comfortable and made a lot of great throws.  I was impressed and surprised.  I still think O’Korn gets the gig, but Shane will push him and provide a solid backup.  They clearly look like 1 and 2 to me with Speight trailing.  Peters could push his way into the 3 during the Fall. 

-          Chesson did not practice. Had helmet on only with knee brace and was just catching balls out of the jugs machine.  He was walking fine without a limp or anything like that.  Interesting how his injury has been concealed so well.  I would expect him to be ready to go for Fall.

-          Ty Isaac looked great – like a totally different dude. He ran hard with purpose like he was trying to win the job.  Totally different than last year.  He could emerge and play a huge roll if he can keep it going.

-          #30 got a few carries for no yards– no idea who that was. 

-          Brandon Peters looked good for a kid in just his 4^th practice and Harbaugh had many great things to say about him in his post-game periscope.

-          Devin Bush Jr looked really comfortable out there. I think he is going to be a really good player.

-          I saw a tall kid wearing #2 on working with the WR’s and thought…man that kid looks smooth and a bit more athletic than some of the other WR’s.  It was Ahmir Mitchell and he looked really good out there for just his 4^th day of practice.

-          Andrew David looks like the smallest guy on the team as he should be. 

-          Gentry dropped a ball when he was wide open.  He still needs to fill out a bit.

-          Drake Harris is still skinny.  Bunting is filling out nicely.