About 8-10 rookies were there watching and learning along with a handful of local high school coaches.
Rob Kelly (academics) and Dante Butler were not there. Later reported by a news source that he has an injury. Injured players there still watching, learning and doing rehab drills were Z Morgan, J Batiste, F Van Hooser, C Dejean, Z Davis, M Marfisi, A Bryant, D Robertson and a couple others. Some guys were in and out of practice depending upon the drill that was going on.
Chris Davenport is a large large individual in pads. Makes Warmsley and Welcome look like children.
WRs Devon Breaux and Kedrick Banks continue to impress the staff. They red-shirted last year but made names for themselves and gained respect from the players with the amazing catches and moves on the scout team. I don't know when it will happen but I stand by my word that Devon Breaux is going to someone very special at some point here. The kid just seems to have "it".
Jordan Sullen was at safety most of the day and boy oh boy does he look great and pissed off. He was flying around and popping the crap out of people. Something tells me he is going to be a major player for us this year.
With low numbers at corner for the Spring, Darion Monroe got work at both safety and corner but he played mostly safety during 7x7 and team sessions.
I think it was two or three years ago when Dominique Robertson hit the crap out of someone in a game and Tulane fans have been wanting more from him but he just can't stay healthy. He was in and out of practice but when he is in there he makes his presence felt. I think he has huge untapped potential and injuries are holding him back.
Another guy that makes me pull my hair out (of my chest because there is none on my head) is Renaldo Thomas. He was offered by the Uprivers twice and if you get to see practices you can see flashes of what they saw in him. I don't know what it is but it just seems like he is still maturing in terms of being 110% "in" and committed to being a college football player. When he wants to, he looks great out there. This guy has huge potential if he can focus on football and giving 100% to the game. I don't know him personally and I am not trying to bash him when I say that but that is the vibe I get from watching him. You can see him at practice and when he is engaged he is engaged and when he isn't - well you can tell. He can have a breakout year if he puts it all together.
Nick Montana looks to have a strong arm, accurate and way more athletic than Griffin or Powell.
This was the third day of practice and first day in pads and it reminded me a lot of last Spring early on when the offense was still trying to learn what they wanted to do. By the end of Spring Griffin had emerged as the leaded and really began to master the offense. Montana will have to be just as dedicated, if not more to be in the same place Griffin was last year. He has more tools and from what I could tell, he is learning quickly so that is good. Powell looks like he did last Fall before he was injured and although he is young, he has had time in the system so he needs to be making fewer mistakes out there. Last Fall there was rarely a time when the huddle broke that they offense had to stop and re-group because of a wrong formation or personnel while Grif was at QB. Saw that way too many times on Saturday but again, it was day three with a new QB and a RS Fr QB.
As Curtis Johnson has said, the defense is ahead of the offense at this point and it showed on Saturday. They were way more excited to be out there and they were flying around knocking people down left and right. They were very intense and you can tell with most of those guys returning as starters and heavy contributors they are highly confident in themselves right now. I really didn't notice anything special with the offensive line. I am looking forward to the end of Spring to see if those guys have improved or not this off-season. If they have not, I can honestly see 3-4 true frosh coming in and battling for starting spots or major playing time.
I asked Cairo Santos about the new snapper and he said "he is really good to be a HS kid". Santos did not kick well at all on Saturday but anyone that saw the last month of the Fall last year knows he missed just about everything in practice but still ended up perfect for the season. Santos is well aware of how Seth Marler won the Groza his Jr year and then had a hard time following that up his Sr season. He knows he will have to work extra hard since he is breaking in a new holder and snapper to go with the high pressure and expectations.
Added on edit 6:45pm 02/20/13
Oh yea, forgot to mention Warmsley was at
DE in practice on Saturday
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