FLOWERY BRANCH – With William Moore recovering from shoulder surgery, third-year man Kemal Ishmael has been working with the first team at strong safety.
He'll be on the field when the Falcons have their second OTA session that's open to the media on Tuesday.
Ishmael received rave reviews from the former regime about his offseason improvement from year one to year two. The former seventh-round pick from Central Florida played in just four games and was mostly inactive as a rookie.
Last season, Ishmael played in all 16 games and made 10 starts. With new coach Dan Quinn challenging all of the players to have their best offseason, Ishmael has one of the tougher tasks.
“I’ve just being out there and learning the playbook,” Ishmael said. “I’m adjusting to the new system. I’m just out there trying to get the playbook down so that I can play fast and physical.”
The soft-spoken Ishmael has remained humble after his breakthrough NFL season.
“Just to have a chance and ability to get out there and compete with everybody else is good,” Ishmael said. “Most guys don’t get an opportunity like this and I just want to make the most of it like I did last year.”
Ishmael played 823 snaps and had 77 tackles, including 22 assists. Quarterbacks threw 38 passes with him in coverage and he gave up 27 receptions, four touchdowns and had four interceptions, according to profootballfocus.com.
Ishmael is hoping that he didn’t max out last season. He believes there’s even more room for improvement.
He’s hoping to make even a bigger jump in his level of play in 2015.
“I hope so,” Ishmael said. “That’s the goal. That’s the plan.”
The new regime gave Ishmael some areas to improve on this offseason.
“I have to take better angles which would like to more solid tackles,” Ishmael said. “I just need to be more physical out there. You want everybody to be more physical out there. I just want to step my game up.”
In addition to keep track of Ishmael at strong, here are four other things to not during the opening session of OTAs on Tuesday:
2. The walking wounded: Cornerback Jalen Collins (foot) was expected to be ready for individual work this week, according to coach Dan Quinn. We'll see if he's ready to start working out.
3. The running back battle: Devonta Freeman and rookie Tevin Coleman are working to replace Steven Jackson as the team's lead running back. Offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan is not afraid to play rookies. He got Robert Griffin III ready to play quarterback as a rookie and used sixth-round pick Alfred Morris as the main ball carrier in 2012.
4. Left guard position: With the signing of Chris Chester, the Falcons have two veterans, who've played mostly right guard in the NFL. It will interesting see if Chester or Jon Asamoah move over to play left guard. Last week, Mike Person played left guard with the first unit.
5. The pass rushers: Will Prince Shembo releases, we'll have to see who's getting the extra reps of the backup players.
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