Practice Update #2: One week in

Well, we're one week into fall camp, and one week from my previous report. Nobody in Florence wanted to drive an hour both ways to watch the ducks practice. Eh, cest la vie. Anywho, this is going to be more of a bullet points recap, then I'll answer more specific questions below. Mostly because I lost my handy-dandy notebook. Probably when I was shaking Gus Johnson's hand. As always, no pictures due to my lack of a media pass. I will also be including numbers next to newcomer's names so that you may too begin to learn how to identify our future stars.

1. Vaughn (10) is first in line of the incoming WRs. He took a good chunk of reps with the ones today, and was the only skill-position newcomer to do so (if you don't count TE as a skill position). He appears to be the best of the bunch at down field blocking, a good way to get on the field at Oregon, and has good hops to go with his size advantage over Blackmon (12)/Sumler (88)/Kelley (23). On an annoying note, Kelley has a moderate-to-severe case of the dropsies. According to the twitterz, he had solved his early-camp jitters by Thursday. However, I saw him drop no less than 3 easily gettable balls from Bennett and Mariota (8). He's going to have to fix that, and fast if he wants to avoid the redshirt.

2. Jake Fisher is far and away the best incoming offensive lineman, and we're deeper than common knowledge at DE (though not so much at DT). Fisher (75) held his own both with the 2nd team O-line, and during 1v1 competition between the offensive and defensive lines. He projects as a right tackle, though I could see him moving to the blind side in the next year or two; he's got the mobility to do so. In terms of our ends, Turner, Jordan, Hanna, and Tony Washington (91) all showed good burst and moves during the 1v1, with Washington beating Clanton and Grassu in succession. On the defensive line, we're fine with our first 4, but I see a small-yet-noticeable drop off from Heimuli-Hart-Keli-fuck it I'm not gonna try-Ebert (93) to the rest of the guys. Hopefully we can avoid injury there.

3. DeAnthony Thomas (17) continues to shine. He had one of the plays of the day: a one-cut-and-go off tackle during 7v7 that he took untouched to the house. He's good, what more is there to say? It's worth noting that he took a large amount of reps at RB with the 2s today, with Ford and Tra Carson (2) taking reps with the 2s and 3s. I didn't see a lot of Lache Seastrunk today so I have to wonder if he's slipping away from his shot at playing time this year. Carson is built like Blount, and looks similar to him in pads. He had a run today with the 3s where he bounced off a tackle at the line, shook an arm tackle from a LB and carried two DBs another 4 or 5 yards. He certainly deserves the "Power Back" moniker.

4. The secondary will be OK without Harris. Not stellar, but OK. Terrance Mitchell continues to start opposite Gildon with the ones, though Troy Hill has taken a few reps there as well. We've got a lot of talented young guys at DB with Mathis (3) Dargan (4) and Scales (17) all RsFr on the 3-deep and Ifo-Ekpre-Olomu (14) showing promise as a true frosh. Gildon also had his 3rd pick of DT of the fall, and DT followed that up by hitting Hanna in the numbers with an errant throw, though that one was dropped.

5. We have the world's strongest kickers. The kickers (Rice/Beard/Solis) took some reps at the tackling dummy today, and boy they hit hard for kickers. Rice and Beard especially are built really well for the stereotypically-soft positions they play. It's nice to see that they could take a hit on a two-point conversion play and still fall forward.

Any questions/comments/concerns posted below will be answered to the best of my ability. The next recap you'll see from me will most likely be Thursday. Go Ducks!