— Cougfan rolls out an excellent look at day one. Among the things to take here are that Jeff Tuel looked sharp, the newcomers looked fast and eager, and the starting defensive line gave the second-team o-line fits for most of the practice. And, the young secondary is already looking good:
THE LEVEL OF competition in the defensive secondary should make for an interesting camp if Day 1 was any indication. The entire secondary – whether the 1’s or 2’s were playing — was blanketing receivers and showing incredible speed chasing down running backs during drills.
The first unit was CB Aire Justin, S Chima Nwachukwu, S Tyree Toomer and CB Daniel Simmons on Sunday. S LeAndre Daniels, the listed starter at free safety and Jamal Atofau both had strong afternoons.
— Cougfan also had a photo gallery, which was cool (and also free!). Among the pics to notice? Jeff Tuel, from pic #1, shown here:
— Finally, Grippi has a thorough look at day one. Grippi highlights the “sharpness” of yesterday, led by Jeff Tuel, as well as the speed and size of the new crop of wideouts, the quickness of the defensive line, the newfound depth of the secondary, and finally, the overall impressive look and functionality of the overhauled practice facilties.
One thing Grippi mentioned, that maybe I missed yesterday, was that Tyree Toomer AND Chima Nwachukwu spent a lot of time teaming up at the safety positions. Yesterday’s WSU depth chart showed Chima and Toomer listed as the “OR” starter at strong safety, but it sounds as though Toomer played free safety, with LeAndre Daniels coming in behind him. We’ll see how it all shakes out, but interesting to watch for day one. Maybe it shows that because of the depth in the secondary, they are in position to mix-n-match right now?
Anyway, overall things sound extremely positive. YES, IT’S ONLY DAY ONE, and the pads aren’t even on yet. Everyone can look pretty damn good running around in helmets and shorts, and things can change quite a bit once the pads go on and the hitting starts getting real. But for now, given where we’ve been as a fanbase? I’LL TAKE IT!
We should have a few “Longball practice reports” coming in the days ahead, so we’ll try and give a first-hand account as well.
All for now. Enjoy your Monday and as always, GO COUGS!
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
