Jacksonville Jaguars Training Camp Report: 8/2 PM Session

The Jacksonville Jaguars finished up the fourth day of training camp with a lighter than usual practice that was highlighted by David Garrard taking the practice off, participating as a casual observer. The weather was picture perfect for practice, a dramatic improvement over the stormy times the team endured yesterday evening.

Injuries:

The only injured players who did not participate were Daryl Smith and Jarett Dillard.  David Garrard appeared to be given the night off to rest the arm.

D’Anthony Smith did sustain an ankle injury during the early portion of practice. This is something to monitor, but with Tyson Alualu agreeing to terms with the team and reporting to camp tomorrow, the team should be fine for the time being. 

One interesting thing to note is Gene Smith spent a good bit of time watching the defensive line during practice today. 

Now, let’s get right to the drills.

Individual Drills:

The kick return unit was front and center at the start of practice. Scotty McGee and Deji Karim took the majority of the reps.  Both have decent speed and cutting ability to be elusive.

McGee has an additional gear that he seems to exploit once he finds a seam, giving him the upper hand.

Deji Karim did have an incident during one of his returns where he fumbled the football. He was fortunate to be the recipient of a lucky bounce as the ball came right back to him without having to break stride. 

Clarence Denmark was struggling to hold on to the football during individual drills. On two successive passes he appeared to be fighting with the ball. The end result was two incomplete passes. One of the drops got him a one-on-one meeting with his position coach, Todd Monken. His performance improved notably after the discussion.

Roren Thomas also had some issues with getting a handle on the ball, dropping a couple of passes delivered on target.

Jason Harmon also managed to get into the mix with a drop. He may have had at least some defense because Luke McCown’s pass was a bit high. Still, he got both hands on the ball and should have pulled it in for a completion.

Troy Williamson was able to stretch the field on a deep post pattern. Luke McCown uncorked a bomb that looked overthrown, but Williamson was able to get under the ball and make a nice over the head grab on the play.

Kassim Osgood had his best practice of training camp. He has shown marked improvement in his ball handling skills. His route running is still suspect, but it has also improved over the past few days. On one particular reception, McCown connected with Osgood on a deep post pattern. The ball was not quite on target, but Osgood was able to get a hand on it and haul it in to make the play.

2 x 1 (Red Zone):

Trevor Harris connected with Clarence Denmark on a fade route in the corner of the end zone over the top of Scotty McGee.  The pass was dropped into the corner perfectly, and Denmark showed great concentration with McGee in his hip pocket.

Harris came back and hit Kassim Osgood on a post route for a touchdown. Derek Cox was unable to get the angle on the ball after Osgood made his cut and created some separation. The ball was delivered on the cut and before Cox could recover.

9 X 11:

The offense was working on running plays on the other end of the field. One of the key things to note was the extensive use of the wildcat formation. Instead of rolling the quarterback outside at the receiver position, they simply did not have one on the field. Zach Miller took the snaps.

The majority of the plays were the garden variety option play where Miller was retaining possession. The play selection was not as interesting as noting the lack of any lingering effects from his injury. That is encouraging.

Whether they decide to incorporate the wildcat formation into the offense remains to be seen.

There was one botched pitch by Luke McCown during the drill. I was an opportunity for Russell Allen to get a highlight during the practice as he scooped it up and took off with the ball.

7 X 7 (Round 1):

The tradition of working on the short passing game continued as both McCown and Harris spent the majority of this drill hitting their short range targets.

The only genuine highlight from this drill was a catch by John Matthews. The long shot to make the roster can at least walk away with some nice film. On a Trevor Harris sideline pass thrown slightly behind the receiver, Matthews made a great adjustment to turn around and grab the pass off his feet.

Aside from that reception, the only other thing to note from this drill was a Nate Hughes drop on a routine crossing route. Trevor Harris was a little ahead of his intended target, but the ball was still catchable. Scott Starks created enough disruption in coverage to force an incomplete pass.

11 x 11 (Round 1):

Maurice Jones-Drew showed his trademark burst around the corner on a little dump off pass from Luke McCown to begin the drill. Drew was able to get to the corner and streak down the sideline for a nice gain before being forced out of bounds.

Rashad Jennings took a toss sweep off the right side. The play looked to have some promise initially, but Derek Harvey and Russell Allen closed the gap quickly as he turned the corner, forcing him out of bounds for a short gain.

Scott Starks and Aaron Kampman teamed up to create a gap in the left side of the offensive line. Starks and Kampman both came through and would have wound up with a sack had contact been allowed.

Luke McCown connected with Mike Sims-Walker on a deep post for a big gain. The impressive thing about the play was the fact that McCown did this with pressure in his face, stepped right into it and hit his target. Had contact been allowed, he would have gotten his clock cleaned on the play for certain.

Deji Karim showed some really impressive footwork on a running play designed to go to the right side behind the tackle. The gap did not materialize, and Karim made a quick cut when he saw a hole develop to the left side between the guard and center. He showed good acceleration and excellent change of direction ability on the play and turned it into a big gain as the entire defense had shifted to the left.

Chad Kackert showed nice speed on a toss sweep to the right side. He was able to get to the corner and turn it into a positive gain.

Troy Williamson snagged a pass from Luke McCown where the pressure was forcing McCown out of the pocket. Williamson picked up on this and broke off his crossing route coming back to his quarterback. He managed to get enough separation from Don Carey before hauling the pass in along the sideline.

Jacob Cutera made a solid defensive play batting away a Trevor Harris pass intended for Zach Miller.

Aaron Kampman and Jeremy Mincey blew up the pocket and forced Luke McCown to throw the ball away to avoid a sack.

7 X 7 (Round 2):

Luke McCown continued to struggle with any sort of consistency, starting the drill off with a poorly thrown pass intended for Ernest Wilford. Sean Considine had a better position on the pass, but even he was not able to get a hand on it because it was so badly overthrown.

McCown went after Zach Miller on a crossing route with Justin Durant covering. The usually sure-handed Miller could not get a handle on the pass as Durant timed his hit perfectly to force the ball to fall incomplete.

Mike Caussin made an acrobatic falling grab on a Trevor Harris post pass. The ball was delivered over the hands of Gerald Alexander.

Luke McCown threw a perfect strike to Zach Miller on a deep crossing route. Russell Allen was in tight coverage, but the pass was put where only Miller was going to be able to haul it in, and he did so without missing his stride.

McCown attempted to go deep to Mike Thomas, but Derek Cox was with Thomas all the way down the field and forced an incomplete pass.

Troy Williamson made a nice spinning, one handed grab on a sideline pass delivered by Luke McCown. The ball was thrown behind Williamson, but he was able to make the adjustment and get a hand on the ball. He managed to hold on and make the grab.

Kyle Bosworth made a solid defensive effort diving in tipping a pass away intended for Zach Potter on a crossing route. Trevor Harris took a while to pull the trigger, waiting for Potter to get open. The hesitation gave Bosworth the time to key in on the ball and make the play.

11 X 11 (Round 2):

Kassim Osgood found a gap between zones in the secondary and hauled in a deep post from Luke McCown. Osgood was wide open on the play and had plenty of room to exploit some additional yardage after the catch.

Zach Miller took a snap from under center running an option play off the right side and turning it into a solid gain.

Trevor Harris hit Kassim Osgood on a quick slant that Osgood turned into a big gain. The ball was out of Harris’ hand as soon as he planted his foot on the drop, and the quickness is what allowed Osgood to get into the secondary and make it a big play.

Red Zone:

Luke McCown tried to go down the sideline to Greg Jones, but overthrew his intended target for an incomplete pass.

McCown came back 2 plays later and hit Marcedes Lewis in the corner of the end zone with Reggie Nelson in coverage.

On the next play, McCown hit Troy Williamson over the top of William Middleton for another touchdown.

The celebration was short lived on the touchdown. Austen Lane and Kevin Haslam got into a fight that lasted about 5 seconds before players and coaches broke it up.

Kirk Morrison batted down a Trevor Harris pass intended for Ernest Wilford in the end zone.

Luke McCown attempted to hit Troy Williamson on a fade, but missed his target short. Don Carey was able to break up the play as a result.

On the final play of practice, McCown hit Kassim Osgood on a cross in the end zone in heavy traffic.  There must have been a little bit of a wager between offensive and defensive units because when the play concluded the entire defense immediately started doing Up Down drills as they huddled up with the coach.

Final Thoughts:

The tempo of the practices has been pretty laid back so far, but the players are clearly starting to get a strong urge to hit someone. The fight breaking out late in practice was probably the result of frustration Lane was dealing with over how Haslam was getting away with holding. That kind of fight shows people are getting a little more intense in their regimen, and that the pressure is on.

The practice tonight was really a nice outing for both Kassim Osgood and Troy Williamson. One of them is probably a lock for the roster because of his special team abilities, but the other is in an absolute dog fight with younger, cheaper talent. Both players stepped their games up significantly tonight, and it is encouraging to see.

With Tyson Alualu expected to begin his training camp tomorrow, the intensity should ramp up quickly. The first round draft pick is going to want to immediately justify his new contract, and the guys opposite him are going to do everything they can to bring him back down to earth. It should be quite entertaining to watch.

More later!