Camp Report: Day 8

Camp Report: Day 8Dolphins bring back an old face
With Miami’s tight ends being all but invisible so far in camp, the front office decided to bring back David Martin. The 31-year old Martin had arguably the best season of his career in 2008 for the Dolphins, when he posted a career-high 450 receiving yards and 3 touchdowns, combining with Fasano for an excellent one-two punch. Fasano’s receiving skills diminished a year ago, but his superb blocking will secure his starting position.

If Martin can return to form, he will likely get the nod over the third tight end to make the roster when the Dolphins line up in two tight end sets. The battle for the final roster spot is about to heat up, though. Joey Haynos, Kory Sperry, and John Nalbone are now set to go at if for the rest of camp for that third and final job opening at the position.

Clemons limiting mental mistakes
For a player who is taking over the reigns of a position that was arguably the most detrimental to the team a year ago, Chris Clemons isn’t exactly drawing much attention so far in camp. Evidently that is a good thing. Sparano enlightened the media this afternoon by claiming Clemons has only made one mental mistake in 238 practice reps.

That is pretty phenomenal considering how mentally challenging the free safety position is, especially for a second-year player. Now, he hasn’t been making many plays according to practice reports, but if he can just stay mentally sound, and play solid coverage all year long, it’s safe to say this secondary will be miles ahead of where they were a season ago.

Injury scares
Thankfully, it doesn’t appear that any of the injuries sustained today were serious. But after already seeing three players go down for the year, it’s a little nerve racking when any player, yet alone a quality starer is seen limping around. Will Allen, who still could start opposite Vontae Davis, but has at least already earned the starting nickel corner job, reportedly aggravated the knee which suffered the torn ACL, but kept practicing on it, and was noticeably struggling.

Jake Grove, who is currently locked in a heated battle with Joe Berger and Andrew Hartline for starting center, limped off the field this morning, but it was later reported he only sustained a bruise. And finally Brian Hartline went down with a reported leg injury in the morning, and missed the evening session. Reports are saying it is only a minor groin tweak, though, so hopefully he will return to action in tomorrow’s scrimmage. Also, Vernon Carey sat out the evening practice, most likely for rest or something minor.

Nobody can contain Brandon Marshall
I know Marshall isn’t the only player on this team, and I know we have talked about how fantastic he has looked so far just about every day, but some of these reports are just too exciting to pass up. Today, Marshall reportedly got the best of Vontae Davis during 1-on-1 drills. Not once, not twice, but five times in a row. It apparantly got so one-sided that Marshall had to take time out of the workout to give Davis some much needed advice.

O-Line first-team
LG: Richie Incognito C: Joe Berger RG: John Jerry

Scrimmage time!
If you live in the South Florida area, tomorrow’s 2 p.m. practice session is a can’t miss. The team will undergo a live, 110 play scrimmage tomorrow afternoon, that will likely go a long way in determining some of the unsettled camp battles and will provide the best look at the 2010 team yet. Check back tomorrow night for a full recap of everything that goes down.

Sources: Sun-Sentinel, The Daily Dolphin

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