The Jaguars took the field this morning for the first session of training camp in preparation for the 2009 season with a renewed sense of energy, a new look to the roster, and a reconfigured practice facility aimed at getting the fans closer to the action.
The weather was typical for an August morning in Jacksonville with hot temperatures, high humidity, and the hint of a breeze coming off of the St. Johns River.
The players donned their traditional opening day garb, shorts, shirts, and those fabulous glitter helmets for a non-contact session to kick things off.
The much touted increased physical approach to practices, even in the unpadded sessions, is readily apparent. There is more action happening in the trenches, and more contact along the line during 11x11 and 7x7 drills. How that will translate as practice proceeds remains to be seen.
The review on the new bleacher setup is mixed. Yes, you are closer to the action, but you cannot attain the elevation to get a real good look at the field, as these bleachers are about a third as tall as the permanent structures at the facility. It also offers less capacity for fans to sit and watch practices, as the permanent bleachers at the facility are significantly larger.
The bleachers they traditionally had set up on the north end of the practice facility are no longer there. It almost appears as if these temporary units were just moved from that area to move fans forward.
The crowd at the practice session was solid for a weekday morning session. From my perspective, there were probably around 1,000 fans attending the morning practice, with a larger crowd expected for the evening session.
On the field, some of the notable players who did not participate included Torry Holt, Vince Manuwai, Sean Considine, Todd Boeckman, and Scott Starks.
The session itself started off with several individual unit drills. There was not much in the way of real action during this portion of the practice, and the younger fans that came to see the Jaguars were immediately bored.
The three quarterbacks (Garrard, Bouman, and Smith) were fairly accurate with most of their passes during individual drills. Smith appeared to have the most difficulty bringing his passes down as he was consistently high on his delivery throughout the practice session.
The two receivers who really stood out during the individual drills were Mike Thomas and Jarett Dillard. Both players made some nice grabs on some slightly errant passes showing athleticism and adjustments we have not seen from Jaguar receivers in quite a while.
Dillard showed great vertical ability in going up after passes without breaking stride. Of course, this type of performance, particularly in shorts and helmets, is something we have grown accustomed to seeing at this point in camp. How his abilities translate once the pads go on remains to be seen. But, for a first blush he was the most notable of the rookie receivers.
Among the tight ends, Richard Angulo appeared to be struggling to hang on to the ball, dropping a couple of very catchable passes during the individual drills.
Now, let’s get on to the drills since this is where most of the real action happened.
11x11 (Part #1):
David Garrard opened up the first drill of training camp by going to Maurice Jones-Drew over the middle on a quick dump off. Daryl Smith got a finger on the ball and knocked the pass away incomplete.
Greg Jones looked outstanding for the first practice session. He appears to have regained some of the burst he has been struggling to find for a couple of seasons now. He is running with command and with a very aggressive nature when he is given the ball.
On one particular play, Jones broke to the outside sidestepping the defense and muscling by a couple of defensive backs before breaking into the secondary where he had a foot race with the safety, hand fighting down the field the entire time. It was one of the more entertaining moments in the first practice for fans.
One play in particular where we got a glimpse of what to expect from Thomas, Garrard hit Thomas going over the middle with two linebackers and a defensive back surrounding him. It was a nice throw into traffic, and an impressive display of concentration for Thomas as he was smothered as soon as he made the grab.
Rashad Jennings continues to impress with his smooth, effortless play on the field. The guy is like silk out there whether he is taking the ball out of the backfield or making a catch. Everything about his style of play is smooth.
Garrard looked rusty at times, especially on the deeper passes. In one particular instance he attempted to go deep to Tiquan Underwood on a deep post, and the ball was badly overthrown.
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