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General

Witnessing practice for the first time today since last Thursday, the biggest news is movement by many young players up to the second team (the starting units remain largely the same). Many freshmen are making a splash, and it shows on the depth chart.

• As mentioned in the title, today was the first open practice with full pads (even though they have been practicing with them since Friday).
• There are only 18 days and counting until opening kickoff.
• Some referees with striped shirts and all made an appearance today and were involved in practice.
• Solomon Thomas (leg work), Nathan Williams (shoulder work), Tyler Moeller (leg work), Jeremy Cash (back work?), and Devier Posey all wore yellow limited contact jersey’s today and spent time on the sidelines doing rehab work, although Posey spent a majority of his time with Coach Drayton instructing the young players.

Defense

• The starting units remain largely the same, with J.T. Moore replacing the injured Nathan Williams and Christian Bryant replacing the inured Tyler Moeller at star.
• Bradley Roby appears to have moved ahead of Dominic Clarke in the open CB battle, although Clarke still gets time with the first team. Roby and Clarke spent time with the first team with Travis Howard on the side, but this was likely just to get them both some extra time since Howard is solidified as one of the starters.
• FR DL Michael Bennett and FR DL Joel Hale continue to play with the second team defense.
• FR CB Doran Grant has moved up the depth chart and was playing with the 2nd team at CB (Dionte Allen has dropped off) and Corey Brown has moved past Zach Domicone on the second team at safety.
• Christian Bryant played with the first team at star and with the second team at safety.
• FR LB Ryan Shazier and FR DL (LEO) Steve Miller were playing with the 2nd team, and Miller played with the first team at times during pass defense drills.
• DL Melvin Fellows appears to have solidified himself in the two deep after starting out camp on the 3rd team.

Offense

• The starters remained largely the same, although the QB battle continues to rotate too much to declare a favorite for the starter.
• Jordan Hall played with the first team at RB, while Corey Brown and Verlon Reed continue to be the starting wide outs, with Chris Fields coming in with the starting unit in the slot at times.
• The starting offensive line continues to be (from left to right): Andrew Norwell LT, Jack Mewhort LG, Mike Brewster C, Marcus Hall RG, J.B. Shugarts RT.
• The second team offensive line mixed up a bit with (from left to right): Mike Adams LT, FR Tommy Brown LG, FR Brian Bobek C, Corey Linsley RG, and FR Antonio Underwood RT.
• The third team offensive line also changed up with (from left to right): Eric Kramer LT, Nick Humphries LG, Tim Trummer C, Ivan Blackmon RG, FR Chris Carter RT. OL Coach Jim Bollman tore into this group pretty good today following one of the running drills.
• FR WRs Evan Spencer and Devin Smith both spent time running the the 2nd team today.