Wet weather blogging
Thursday’s practice was moved indoors due to intermittent torrential downpours, which meant one thing: everyone was on top of each other, and space was at a premium in the Indoor Football Facility.
The five periods the media was allowed in for were therefore a little on the cluttered side – we lined up on the West sideline, along with representatives from the Chicago Bears and the Detroit Lions, while all 100-plus members of the team ran through their drills in different sections of the same field.
JaMarcus Russell looked particularly strong today, putting the ball in the perfect location almost every time he dropped back to throw. Of the three quarterbacks vying for the starting job against North Texas, Russell appears to have the edge in pocket presence as well as the ungodly arm strength – maybe it’s simply a matter of him having more playing time under his belt, but he looks more composed and in charge under center when compared with Matt Flynn and Ryan Perrilloux. While Flynn occasionally put the ball too far out in front of the receivers – a recipe for disaster when a defensive back is charging towards a wideout, as if the intended receiver has to stretch out too far to haul the ball in, he’s leaving himself wide open to being knocked out of the game with any serious collision – Russell was on the money time and time again, as he found the receivers in stride on slant routes and put the ball in between the numbers on the outside curls.
Perrilloux still looked to have the same problems that have been plaguing him all fall, namely he tends to force the ball too much instead of throwing it, and as a result the receivers often see the pigskin come in straight at their feet. While his arm strength is unquestionably strong – he rivals Russell in that department – he doesn’t yet have the accuracy needed to make plays at the collegiate level. Case and point? When he tries to correct the underthrowing problem, he often ends up firing the ball three feet above the wideouts’ heads, creating the same potential for receiver injury Flynn was causing when he threw the ball a little wide of its intended target. While Flynn’s issues were likely just a case of him having a bad day – he hasn’t shown accuracy problems this fall and more often than not is the more accurate of the three signal callers – Perrilloux’s are just typical rookie teething problems as he tries to apply his phenomenal high school talent to the college game.
However, the three were neck-and-neck during the final period as they were put through a drill that receivers and quarterbacks alike have been enjoying all fall – namely dropping back and airing the ball out. The final open period saw the quarterbacks throwing 40-yard bombs off five- and seven-step drops, and with one exception (Perrilloux almost throwing the ball out of the back of the end zone), every throw was spot on. In fact, Perrilloux’s pass prior to his giant overthrow may have been the best of the lot, as he perfectly bent the ball down and hit Craig Davis in stride two yards into the end zone.
The receivers are continuing to make strides (no pun intended) under position coach Todd Monken, and it seems everything Dwayne Bowe does is effortless. His long, lean, frame enables him to cover a lot of ground in a hurry without appearing to try, and his hands are secure – a welcome relief for fans who cringed at times in 2004 when his usually surefire grip inexplicably turned to butter after the Georgia game. Early Doucet, who was picked by Bowe before fall camp opened as a player to keep an eye on, appears to have been spending a lot of time over the summer working on his head and hip movement, and now has his fake down to where even the student assistants are starting the wrong way when he comes toward them, despite their knowing the route he is running.
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