Auburn football practice observations: Day 2

AUBURN – Day two of Auburn fall camp was a much shorter media viewing window. Auburn Live focused on coaches and players during fundamentals.

Practice notes

— Freshman wide receiver Perry Thompson stood out in screen blocking drills. His get off is elite and showed out over several other receivers. Great effort from him in drills.

— Offensive lineman Jaden Muskrat practices with an attitude. He’s pesky when working through drills. He put Izavion Miller on his back during a drill working on feet and pad level.

— Freshman offensive lineman DeAndre Carter has already slimmed down a good bit. He still has a ways to go, but trimming down, for sure. He was well over 350 pounds coming in.

— Bradyn Joiner and Jeremiah Wright led the sled drills that I watched. They were the two in front of the line.

— Dylan Senda was a touch slow on the sled, but recovered well.. He is working with Tate Johnson at center.

— The offensive line worked on the sled, worked on pods (zone combo blocking), and on feet and pad level during our viewing window.

— Payton Thorne threw the ball with good velocity during routes on air. Walker White still has the most active arm in my opinion, but Thorne throws with the most confidence.

— For the running backs, a coach gave a block and turned a defender.. The backs had to make a cut off of it. Working on vision and how to press the lane before cutting into it.

— Auburn Live was able to see a few reps of the running backs and tight ends going against the linebackers in one-on-one short passing.

— Luke Deal beat Robert Woodyard in a 1-on-1. He shook free and made a nice catch on an out route.

— Great coverage by Dorian Mausi on a tight end out route. The tight end caught the ball, but he ran with it very well.

— Eugene Asante and Jarquez Hunter had a great rep going against each other. Hunter got away at the last minute and made the catch, but was well-covered.

Coaching styles

**These observations are strictly from watching 20 minutes of fundamentals.

— Jake Thornton seems to be a perfectionist. He is constantly tweaking things in fundamentals. He will take his time and talk through a drill before letting them go. Of the position groups, the offensive line probably take its time more than others–but they have more time in fundamentals, too. There is a lot of talking through drills beforehand and after the fact. That’s how I was brought up with offensive line coaching.

— Thornton is intense at practice. He, and assistants Payton Cox and Darren Hiller, are very hands on and demonstrate reps often.

— Derrick Nix’s coaching style is very reserved. He’s not a yell guy. When he did speak up, it looked as though he was retooling the drill to make sure the backs weren’t lulling through. He made it much tougher on the guy going through the drill. It was a pass protection drill. He and his assistant were working to get the backs’ minds out of it and have a more attacking nature.

— Marcus Davis likes to get in the mix with the receivers. He is usually very active in simulating a coverage, using a dummy, or showing a block. He seems to be more about rapid-fire and repetition, but will stop and explain things through at times.

The post Auburn football practice observations: Day 2 appeared first on On3.