Auburn football practice observations: Day 1

AUBURN – Everything that Auburn Live observed during a 45 minutes practice window for the first day of fall camp practice..

— Practice started with a routes on air session. The defense did the same, but worked on coverages on air. The groups were mixed around during these sessions.

— Joe Phillips and Jamonta Waller are still working at Buck, but got some reps at linebacker depth, they were basically working on short zone drops from the traditional linebacker position–this should be a nuance of Durkin’s defensive look.

Potential first and second groups

— The first defensive group through various drills seemed to consist of:

5-tech: Keldric Faulk
Nose: Jayson Jones
3-tech: Gage Keys
BUCK: Jalen McLeod
LB’s Eugene Asante, Austin Keys
CB’s: Kayin Lee, Keionte Scott
Safeties: Caleb Wooden, Jerrin Thompson,
Nickel: Champ Anthony.. Jerrin Thompson worked there with Sylvester Smith coming in at safety in those situations.

— The second defensive group was a full rotation, but seemed to be these players:

5-tech: Zykeivous Walker
Nose: Isaiah Raikes
3-tech: Philip Blidi
BUCK: Keyron Crawford
LB’s Dorian Mausi, Robert Woodyard
CB’s: Antonio Kite, Jay Crawford
Safeties: Too big of a rotation, everyone played.
Nickel: Too big of a rotation, everyone played.

Notes and observations

— Sean Jackson is back at practice and a full participant after potentially contemplating entering the coaching world.

— The main receivers/tight ends seemed to KeAndre Lambert-Smith, Robert Lewis, Cam Coleman, Rivaldo Fairweather.. Micah Riley worked a lot at the H-back position and was often in motion.

— During stretches DJ Durkin tossing the ball to players while stretching trying to catch players off guard.

— A few new numbers: Fa’Najae Gotay – 38, Damari Alston – 0, Jahquez Robinson – 30

— QB’s went through the hand off motion and then screen throws during drills.

— Jamonta Waller practices with extreme intensity.. Even in walk through.

— Jayson Jones looked to have a good day of practice

— Keyron Crawford is a head-turner. He looks like he was built in a lab, then backs it up with showing great quickness in everything he did.

— Wide receivers had a couple of drops, but nothing glaring.

— The first offensive line group was what we expected: LT – Percy Lewis, LG – Dillon Wade, C – Connor Lew, RG – Jeremiah Wright, RT – Izavion Miller

Coach observations

— Vontrell King-Williams (VKW), Auburn’s defensive line coach spent some time showing Zykeivous Walker a step on a drill.

— Defensive linemen rotated into Josh Aldridge’s drill with the ends and edges.

— The most intense session of practice had to be the defensive line working on the sled.. When it was over, the defensive line was gassed. Intensity was demanded.

— Isaiah Raikes, I thought was most violent on the sled work.. VKW made them physical and stayed in their ear during this drill. Gage Keys and Philip Blidi stood out there too. Bobby Jamison-Travis, too.

— King-Williams made Keldric Faulk reload a drill. He lost his footing. He made up for it on the next rep.

— Also intense: The special teams period. Full sprints on everything. Working on sprinting down and getting out of stances. Then on getting away from blocks while sprinting.

— The defense worked on the Tennessee drill which is a drill designed to work on lining up quickly, then sprinting to a ball carrier. It’s a conditioning drill, but also a mental prep drill.

— Safeties coach Charles Kelly and King-Williams lit into the second team defense. Made them restart the drill 4 times. They did not sprint hard enough.

— The offense worked on tempo, getting lined up quickly, and snapping the ball as quick as possible all the way down the field. It served as conditioning as well.

— King-Williams praised Jayson Jones big time.. He put his hands up and made a big fuss about it. “Jay, that’s it! That’s it!”

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