NMSU Football practice - Saturday April 6th

 The first Saturday spring practice went with out a hitch. There were a few times it got real quiet and you could hear a coach getting onto their players on missed assignments or running a play wrong. The atmosphere had a high intensity from the start to the very end. They started off with some quick drills and then stretching. Before they broke out into groups they gathered in the middle of the field to be bried etc. They did a quick chant of BEAT UTEP before breaking the huddle. I am guessing each practice they will have each team they are playing this season with that to build up some motivation.

I mostly watched the skilled position and offense since I was sitting on that side. I liked what I saw, great effort and hustle all around. They sprinted to drills, kept hyped up and pushed hard later in the practice. You could tell that a few players were not in the best shape near the end.

The quarterbacks did a good job. I couldn't see much of a difference. They all got equal amount of reps. King Davis III looks solid as a freshman but I doubt later on in the practice season will be able to keep up with Manly and McDonald. Colwell looked great too. Everyone was throwing the ball well. Davis and Colwell did have a few balls thrown inaccurately and also threw a few low balls, most were caught though. In the team play they forced some balls when under pressure that would have been easily a TO in a real game situation. McDonald bobbled a few snaps and had to go to the ground a few times as well. Manley looked great, he looks fitter and more agile after losing 20 lbs. At the end of practice they ran sprints and was falling behind a little bit after the second and third one.

The wide receiver core looks solid and very fast. They did not drop many balls and were quick on cuts and in drills. They also worked on blocking schemes for a little bit. They were facing away from me so I can not say much on that. I got to see the walk on Joe Cordova, that dude is TALL. In one of the drills, he caught the ball and Coach Littlejohn commented, Joe, it looks like you know what you are doing for once!. Don't qoute me on it though. The kid can catch so it will be interesting to see if he will be utilized this season. Other than that, they looked good, fast, quick, sticky hands. They did seem a little bit less motivated than the rest of the team in general.

I did not get a good look at the O-line. But they were getting worked good in the far corner from me.

During the team vs play, the defense was able to penetrate the offensive line quite easily on most occasions. So it looks like they will have some issues to work on there. I hope they will get better. They ran the option more than a few times. They are fast to the edge, most occasions there were not a lot of defenders there to snuff it. One pitch Mcdonald probably had second thoughts and it fell a few yards short of the runner. The defense was loud and rowdy on the sidelines too. I liked that, more intense than the offensive side.

I did not get to see the RB's drill since they were on the opposite far corner. But in offensive play drills they looked shifty and made their cuts well.

The player who stood out the most in this practice, from the team vs was no other than Xavier Hall. He was fast, shifty, broke out of a few tackles and was quick. When cought up in a crowd he kept his feet moving. He broke out quite a few times into open space. I am glad to see him on the roster in the spring, which means he graduated early from LCHS. Makes me wish we still had his older brother at NMSU.