AJC > Sports > Falcons > Training Camp Blog > Archives > 2007 > July
July 2007
Milner making the adjustment
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Another day wrapped up. First, as promised, let me update the progress of the tight ends.
Alge Crumpler practiced more today than he did yesterday and will be a nice threat in Bobby Petrino’s offense. The other impact he’s having is that he’s helping out the next crop of young Falcons tight ends. Martrez Milner said that Crumpler has been great a great teacher and teammate helping the young guys like himself and Daniel Fells get comfortable in the offense and training camp.
Milner made a nice catch for a touchdown while the offense was working on the goalline.
“It’s just practice,” he said about the play. “Come game time I want to be that person who catches the ball, plays special teams - whatever the coach needs.”
Petrino said he’s been really pleased with the play of Dwayne Blakley, so he and Crumpler have the first two spots nailed down. Petrino singled out Blakley’s improved blocking. There’s competition between Fells and Milner. Milner is coming on, but Petrino said the team is being carefull not to overwhelm him with too much right now in his first training camp. As Petrino said, making the adjustment to tight end in the pros is a challenge, becuase you’re basically combining three positions - offensive line, wide receiver and fullback.
Milner acknowledged that it is a big adjustment from Georgia to the NFL.
“Just the whole mental aspect of it all - in college I knew everything. Here’s it’s a whole different type of level… It’s such high intensity, I have to get used to it,” he said.
As for Fells, Petrino said he’s been encouraged by his last couple practices and he’s seeing improvement. Of all the tight ends, Fells presents the biggest threat downfield. We’ll keep an eye on this battle as training camp continues.
Responses to your comments:
JMark - Norwood looks great. They had him catching a lot of balls out of the backfield today, and other than one pass where he bobbled it a little before securing the ball, his hands looked solid. That’s a nice weapon to have. As for Harrington, today wasn’t his best day of camp. He struggled a little completing anything but short passes. Once he missed high when Joe Horn broke open across the middle of the field. A few other times in 7-on-7 he completed passes, but if the D was allowed to hit, I have a feeling the receivers would have been laid out pretty good.
Call Me Earl - Crocker is getting more reps in front of Williams and has looked better so far in camp.
Jay - I think the team has to be pleased with Shockley’s progression. Compared to Harrington and Redman, his arm has a lot more strength. He was rolling out a little today, and presents that option too, which Petrino has to be looking to exploit.
Johnny B - Ovie Mughelli is an absolute load. I wouldn’t be surprised if we saw him get carries this season around the goalline. They’ve been taking it slow with Crumpler, but he got a lot of action in today and his progress seems to be on schedule.
Pete - Jamaal Anderson is backing your words up so far in camp. He’s going to be a good one.
Tracking the tight ends
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The players are already out there getting loose for today’s morning practice. There is only one practice today since the afternoon session was cancelled. Not sure if that’s Bobby Petrino rewarding his players for their effort, or if he’s trying to pace them.
It’s a closed practice today, so the only update will be once practice is wrapped up.
SC - I’m going to get you a tight ends update I promised earlier and also an updated on Alge Crumpler’s progress. At the request of some of you commenters, I’ll also be watching for David Irons and of course the quarterback situation - especially Shockley.
Arena league standout joins the team
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Ben Nelson just signed with the Falcons today after playing in the ArenaBowl on Sunday. He’s tall, but pretty skinny - the official release says he’s 6-foot-3, 188 pounds. he was the AFL’s rookie of the year in 2006 and had 25 touchdowns this past season for San Jose. His only NFL experience is with the Vikings where he played three games, primarily on special teams.
He’s the all-time leader in touchdown receptions at St. Cloud State, but so far today, he hasn’t seen too much action on the field.
This last session was mostly special teams. Laurent Robinson was returning some kicks as the rookie wide out continues to get lots of looks in training camp. Allen Rossum was absolutely flying during kickoff returns. He’s got some serious wheels.
Alge Crumpler left the field about midway through practice, which has been typical for him as he continues his recovery from knee surgery. Offensive lineman Toniu Fonoti wasn’t padded up, but did some footwork drills in shorts and a jersey. Linebacker Demorrio Williams was also out there, but it looks like the team is keeping him away from contact.
Scouting the secondary
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
An early update: Kept an eye on the secondary during early drills. First — Omare Lowe didn’t show any signs of favoring his knee. He missed Saturday’s drills with a knee injury but looked fine out there early in drills.
The secondary went over its pass coverage responsibilities during the first portion of practice. The backups ran pass routes while the starters intercepted lofted passes from coaches. During these drills, Lewis Sanders worked with the first team at RCB and Chris Crocker at free safety. Lawyer Milloy and DeAngelo Hall were in their normal spots. Sanders showed off some nice hands, picking off a pass during the drill on a bullet over his shoulder.
When the secondary joined the rest of the defense for some reps against a live offense, the secondary stayed the same.
The biggest crowd reaction during early going came when Roddy White made a nice catch in traffic from D.J. Shockley running a route over the middle. He snagged it out of mid-air to drawing some shouts from the Falcons fans watching on the hill nearby. Shockley also connected with Joe Horn on a deep post on safety Daren Stone.
Updates from steamy Flowery Branch
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
It’s a hot one out here in Flowery Branch. Somebody just walked into the media room from outside and said it was 100 degrees in the shade of their work tent. But believe me, I’m not complaining because I’m not in shoulder pads and a helmet.
Today’s practice is open to the public and starts at 3:20 p.m. which means I’ll be able to keep you guys updated more often than the closed practices allow. Hopefully, I’ll get back to my laptop every half hour or so to update the blog. That number might be higher if I’m looking for an excuse to get back into the air conditioning.
So, what are we watching for today? As usual, I’ll try and keep on eye out for any player who looks like he’s having a great camp. But specifically, I’ll be watching the defense — keeping an eye on positional battles at weakside linebacker, in the secondary as well as observing the progress of first-rounder Jamaal Anderson.
If there’s an individual player you want updates on, please comment here. At the request of one of our commenters, I’ll hopefully try and work a Daniel Fells update today.
Robinson impressive in morning practice
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Just wrapped up the morning practice and interviews. I observed practice today with a few goals in mind. 1. Watch the rookies. 2. See if anyone jumped out with their play. 3. Look for injuries.
On the injury front, Grady Jackson and Alge Crumpler joined practice late as the team continues to monitor their injury situations closely. But it looked like it was a relatively clean practice other than that.
The player who jumped out was rookie wide receiver Laurent Robinson. The third round pick from Illinois State was impressive. The guy caught everything thrown in his direction. On one pass, he caught a hitch from Chris Redman then juked fellow rookie David Irons and sprinted down the sideline untouched.
If I’m Roddy White, I’m getting nervous. As for White, he caught a long touchdown pass from Redman, but later let out a yell of frustration after dropping a perfect pass down the right sideline from Joey Harrington.
Most of Robinson’s catches were under 20 yards, and the one time he stretched things out downfield, Harrington overthrew him. But he’s definitely worth watching as training camp unfolds.
During a post-practice chat, he said all the right things. He’s just working hard, and hoping to make the most of his opportunities.
Bobby Petrino said he was pleased with the pace of the morning practice. Obviously there were less distractions, although he said when you’re on the field, you don’t notice any of the things going on around you. Day two was a better one for the quarterbacks, who Petrino said looked a little more comfortable in his offense. Harrington continued to make the right passes, while D.J. Shockley was a little inconsistent, especially with his accuracy. Redman looked fine, although it’s really early to evaluate the battle to back up Harrington. The best time for all that will be when the exhibition season starts.
Justin Blalock, the last of the draft picks to sign, was out there for the first time, and he said it was good to get the first practice behind him. He said there was a lot of anxiety, especially considering he missed yesterday’s practice. He worked with the first team and Petrino said there are high hopes for him this season on the offensive line now that he’s signed.
Much quieter in Flowery Branch
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
It’s just a slightly different scene here in Flowery Branch on day two of training camp. The mobs of protesters have disappeared. The number of TV trucks has dropped considerably. Right now there are three of us in the media room. Four if you count Brian Finneran walking in and out. Yesterday, I couldn’t move.
The 9 a.m. practice this morning is closed to the public which means the rules for me are a little different. I can’t update the blog during practice and won’t be revealing any top-secret Bobby Petrino plays. But I’ll let you know who is looking good, and try and get an update on the early progress of some of these draft picks once practice is wrapped up. You have to give the team credit for getting all those draft picks signed this early in camp.
Yesterday the team and coaches said it was important to put the Michael Vick situation behind them and focus on football. We’ll find out today if that’s possible.
Shockley pleased with first day
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The press conferences just wrapped up — but first let’s get to the end of practice. I got a few requests for updates on D.J. Shockley — he took the last few snaps before the team broke off into some field goal kicking to end practice. My first impression of Shockley during the live work against a defense was that he disappeared at times behind the offensive line, especially compared to 6-foot-4 Joey Harrington. It became a factor when he missed Michael Jenkins over the middle - either the ball was tipped or Shockley was trying to throw a curveball because it was end-over-end and way behind Jenkins.
But after that miss, Shockley completed his last three passes - one to 5-foot-8 Vincent Marshall, another to tight end George Cooper and the last one a deep ball to Noriaki Kinoshita. On a side note, Kinoshita, the import from Osaka Japan, had a nice little media following.
In all, Shockley said he was pleased with the first day of training camp. When asked about Harrington, he said their relationship was great and Harrington echoed those comments later in a press conference. But Shockley did say he’s preparing to fight for the No. 1 spot - which you have to like from any competitor.
Lastly, Jamaal Anderson made it out for the second half of practice. Bobby Petrino said it’s a huge deal to him to have all his draft picks signed at this point in the season. We’ll get into the rookies a little more on Friday.
Crumpler leaves the field
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
On Friday, I’m coming with binoculars. After being moved to the metal bleachers instead of the usual spot on the sideline, following the action across the field became a challenge. The most interesting development was Alge Crumpler walking off the practice field about 10 minutes ago. Nobody seemed too alarmed, he’s coming off a knee surgery and is being closely monitored.
The quarterbacks graduated to some passing against a defense, which gives you a much better look at all of them. Joey Harrington still looked good, and the discussion going on in the bleachers was whether or not he’ll get a serious challenge from D.J. Shockley. Or if Shockley will be given a fair shot. Interestingly enough, the best pass came from Chris Redman, who hit Eric Weems on a deep route down the sideline. Weems, a rookie from Bethune-Cookman, did a nice job reeling in the pass, drawing a nice applause from the fans gathered on the hill next to the action.
No Jamaal Anderson in early drills
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The first session just wrapped up, and they removed us from our prime position between practice fields. With the new regime, comes a lot of new rules about when and where you can videotape, take pictures and use your cell phone. But most photographers seemed more interested in the plane flying overhead that dragged a banner that read: “New team name? Dog-killers?” rather than anything happening on the field.
First - It’s interesting to note that first-round pick Jamaal Anderson was not out on the field to open practice. As Steve Wyche earlier reported, he agreed to terms on a five-year contract, but evidently it wasn’t enough to get him out there for the first portion of practice. One possibility is that he could be getting a physical, but it’s not clear. Wyche is getting to the bottom of it as we speak.
Big Grady Jackson, on the other hand, was out there. He was dressed but wasn’t participating in early drills.
I spent most of the first portion watching Joey Harrington, who I’ll be writing about for Friday’s paper. Without Vick, Harrington is thrust into the starting job and in early drills he looked fine. Granted, the only pass rush was a coach running by him after he took a snap from an assistant, but he was accurate on the deep out, showing the arm strength that made him the No. 3 overall pick by Detroit. Early action was basically a progression of pass routes, from a quick slant to a seam route. He looked fine, as did D.J. Shockley and Chris Redman - as you would hope on routine passing drills. The only dropped pass came from Roddy White, who couldn’t handle a 15-yard out that hit him in the numbers.
I’m also curious about Jerious Norwood, who, if he gained 10 pounds this offseason, it wasn’t in his legs. I’ll be watching him in the next session. I’ll also let you know if Jamaal Anderson ever shows up.
Getting ready for some actual football
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
It’s a zoo up here. Between fans waiting to get in, to protesters shouting at each other across Falcons Parkway, it’s hard to believe that there will be any actual football being played today in Flowery Branch. But thankfully there will be, and I’ll be updating you on the latest developments on the field here at training camp.
I promise, this is a Michael Vick-free zone - unless we’re talking about what the team is doing to replace him. There won’t be PETA mentions or dog fighting references. Just football. All training camp long, I’ll be here blogging from practice, updating you on how the 10-pound heavier Jerious Norwood looks as the potential primary ballcarrier and if this year’s rookie class is ready to contribute like many feel they will have to. Today, the updates will come every half hour once practice starts unless I’m escorted out by Falcons security. I’ll keep you posted.
Services »
