I was surprised to get out to the practice fields today and see the
fellas in full pads. The e-mail UNM sent me said today was shorts, helmet, and
shoulder pads; so I was very excited to know that there was some hitting going
on.
I got to the fields in time to watch the “Lobo Drill” and I was once
again very impressed by the blocking of Anthony Carter. AC is working hard and
was getting props from his coaches and Hank Baskett for his blocking this
afternoon. It is obvious the pride these guys get in putting a defender on their
back and AC did pick up a pancake block today that would make any member of The
Hitmen proud.
Anthony Carter
with The Pancake Block!
AC keeps it
up!
Lobo Drill was followed up with some special teams work as Coach Todd put
the guys through their drills in punting, fielding punts, kick offs, and punt
blocking.
One-on-One drill was next and Anthony Carter fresh from blocking drills
looked strong out on the playing field making some nice catches. It is very
refreshing this year not to see the amount of dropped balls we have seen in
year’s past. The “Dropsies” are a mental thing and it really looks like so far
the Lobo receivers have conquered the drop passes.
Full scrimmage followed that up and players are trying to move up the
depth chart while other players drop down. Now this is by no means any
indication of what the starting depth chart is going to look like come Sept. 5
but I noticed that both Anthony Kilby and Vince Natali were spending time with
the 1st team offense on the field. There was other mixing and
matching going on, but I noticed this one since that Tackle position is one of
the hottest contested this year.
Adrian Byrd with a touchdown
up the gut!
The play of the day was Hank Baskett going up with Jerrell Malone on a
high pass. Malone looked to have secured the interception bringing it into his
chest area, but before they hit the ground, Hank using those unbelievably strong
hands of his wrenched the ball out of Malone’s hands for the reception. What a
big time play!
John Mulchrone with a nice
gain!
Other highlights of the day included Chris Nelson looping a nice 30
yarder to TE John Mulchrone and back-to-back scores by Marcus Smith. Play number
1 Marcus Smith split a pair of defenders and butted heads going down into the
end zone. The kind of play Lobo fans are looking forward to from #4.
Unfortunately, there was a flag on the play for illegal motion bringing the play
back. Next play Marcus Smith makes a move going in on the corner, sheds him,
dips back out on the safety, the ball is heaved high and Smith grabs it for the
TD!
Marcus Smith
finishes practice with a TOUCHDOWN!
Defense wasn’t chopped liver either as so far defensive MVP of training
camp Evroy Thompson had back-to-back sacks today, and Adam Garday had 2 tackles
for loss.
Also picking up plenty of props today was #50 Herbert Felder. The
redshirt freshman’s name was called out during one-one-drills and he had some
nice tackles during the scrimmage.
Offensive
Player of Practice
#4 Marcus Smith
After dropping a pass earlier he came back out and caught a pair of nice
touchdown passes.
Defensive
Player of Practice
#92 Evroy Thompson
Evroy's 2nd
sack
Could 2005 be the year of “The Evroy”? If the trend continues out of
training camp, you bet it will be.
505
Pride
#18 Hank Baskett (Clovis HS, Clovis New Mexico)
Hank has to have the strongest pair of hands of a receiver I’ve ever seen
and he makes the impossible look so easy.
Nick Speegle Auction for YAFL Tickets
Prior to leaving for Cleveland Browns camp former Lobo Nick Speegle
signed some footballs, hats, T-shirts, and a mini-helmet.
We also have a pair of 50-yard line tickets that we are auctioning off as
well.
ALL PROCEEDS GO TO PURCHASE TICKETS
FOR THE YAFL PLAYERS!
To bid
on these items just follow this link!
RED MENACE AUCTION
HOUSE
There
are pictures of all the items and we will keep everyone up to date on all the
items.