Rookie Camp Day 1 (Reports and Discussion)

[CodyT]

Willy throws a pick 6 to unamba... He read it the whole way through

[gbill2004]

O'Shea MUCH more vocal at practice compared to Burke.

[CodyT]

Very small sample size but marve in my opinion has looked like the best one out there today.

[rebusrankin]

Will Marve surprise as #3 but potential to rise?

[CodyT]

Lol obviously pretty hard to tell right now. Hall looked pretty good too, willy was okay but left a couple floaters and threw one bad pick in the 1 v 1. Didn't pay too much attention to brohm

[Tracker]

Will Marve surprise as #3 but potential to rise?

Marve's resume says he's a competitor with all the basic tools, but adapting to the CFL has been a challenge for a lot of promising quarterbacks. so we shall see. We gotta call him "Captain" if he makes the team, though.

[Brandon]

It will be very difficult to believe Marve can overtake any of the other guys.

Hall and Brohms NFL experience will be tough to surpass.

[AKAChip]

It will be very difficult to believe Marve can overtake any of the other guys.

Hall and Brohms NFL experience will be tough to surpass.

 

Disagree with this. Maybe it was only one practice but this guy has all the tools. I'm in love.

 

Brohm was easily the weakest of the QBs and while I like what Hall brings to the table, he is what he is. Marve has zip on his throws and one particular example I have is on one play, he showed great mobility on a roll out to his right while being chased by a lineman and while on the run fired a bullet to Donovan Kemp. Perfect throw and a good example of what he can do. It's early, but I think he easily gets the project 3rd QB job on this squad.

 

Yantz surprised me as well. He has a much better arm than I expected. I liked Willy as well. Good arm and he looked like a leader out there. The talent at QB in camp this year is light years ahead of last year. I finally see what other team's fans see when they have a young QB who comes in and really impresses. I know it's early and I can't get too excited but damn. I'm impressed. Nothing like Clement from last year or other first year camp QBs that we've had in the past.

 

It's really tough to gauge anything other than QBs, DBs and receivers so I'll just go over the DBs and receivers now.

 

The pick 6 was Matt Pierce from Hall, not Unamba from Willy but afterwards Unamba chest bumped with Pierce and I really liked that show of camaraderie. Unamba and Pierce are two of the less heralded DB prospects but from a straight up coverage standpoint, they both stood out the most. Still, the receivers on the whole were making the DBs look bad. It's nice to see since that's how 1-on-1's should be but with so much space. It feels like in years past poor QB play and other factors made the O look bad even in practice. Today wasn't like that at all and I'm glad. Hogan also showed decent coverage skills and no one looked flat out bad. Other than one nuts move from Donovan Kemp on a DB that I don't remember.

 

No receiver stood out all that much to me. Kemp made some nice moves and really nice grabs and showed very good speed but also had a bad drop late in the session. Urrutia and Bell are HUGE. Bell is skinnier in the mold of a Doug Pierce and wasn't all that noticeable but you can tell that Urrutia and Brohm have chemistry from their college days. Urrutia probably had the best hands of the session. Tarver is tiny. It looked like none of his equipment fit him but he looked to have great speed and good hands. I think his age will make him in tough to land a spot on the team and these smaller guys rarely get a shot in the offense but it was a good first day from him. Taylor Renaud also caught a few deep balls in good coverage. I don't have high hopes for him but it was nice to see him play well. Barnes made some very nice catches and also had some drops.

 

#45, who I believe is the FB from the Rifles is absolutely massive. In blocking drills with Buck he was knocking Buck off balance every time. He has hands of stone but I wouldn't mind having this guy blocking for me if I were a RB.

 

It looked like Garvin was missing from the session this evening and there was another player who was not in uniform just hanging on to a ball. If anyone knows who this was, I would appreciate the info.

 

Also ran into Gary Etcheverry in the parking lot and he smiled at me. This turned my impression of him around immediately. He will be the greatest coordinator this team has ever seen.

 

Overall, I like the talent crop this year. Didn't watch a ton of the D-line but even with limited reps Kenny Tate looks like an absolute beast. Makes me salivate at the thought of him starting for this team.

[Brandon]

 

It will be very difficult to believe Marve can overtake any of the other guys.

Hall and Brohms NFL experience will be tough to surpass.

 

Disagree with this. Maybe it was only one practice but this guy has all the tools. I'm in love.

 

Brohm was easily the weakest of the QBs and while I like what Hall brings to the table, he is what he is. Marve has zip on his throws and one particular example I have is on one play, he showed great mobility on a roll out to his right while being chased by a lineman and while on the run fired a bullet to Donovan Kemp. Perfect throw and a good example of what he can do. It's early, but I think he easily gets the project 3rd QB job on this squad.

 

Also ran into Gary Etcheverry in the parking lot and he smiled at me. This turned my impression of him around immediately. He will be the greatest coordinator this team has ever seen.

 

 

Lol I hope this is a joke?

 

Also Willy is a lock at #1,   Hall pretty much a lock at #2.....     The team traded for Brohm ,  McManus I assume likes the guy since he knows the most about him.... the dude has started in the NFL.... was fairly touted in his college career.....  Marve would have to be perfect in pre season while Brohm completely shits the bed for him to take his spot.      

 

Just because a guy can zip the ball in practice doesn't really mean anything yet.

 

I am pleased though that they brought in a guy who can throw the ball instead of bringing in guys with Dinwiddie floater arms...

[AKAChip]

I have no doubt that Willy and Hall are locked in at 1 and 2. I have no reason to believe that Brohm will beat out Marve for number 3 because of his "NFL experience."

Ideally the better man wins the job. Today, it was Marve by a long shot. Tomorrow, it may not be.

[Mike]

My report is brief because I didn't stay very long.

Good: Urrutia, Bell, Grigsby, Marve, Willy, Matt Pierce, Tate

Bad: Kemp, Barnes, Brohm

Didn't stay long enough to get in depth with it but truly, Kemp and Barnes had the worst showings while I was there. Coaches got on both of them for not hustling after a drop (two for Barnes)

[Mike]

It will be very difficult to believe Marve can overtake any of the other guys.

Hall and Brohms NFL experience will be tough to surpass.

Disagree with this. Maybe it was only one practice but this guy has all the tools. I'm in love.

Brohm was easily the weakest of the QBs and while I like what Hall brings to the table, he is what he is. Marve has zip on his throws and one particular example I have is on one play, he showed great mobility on a roll out to his right while being chased by a lineman and while on the run fired a bullet to Donovan Kemp. Perfect throw and a good example of what he can do. It's early, but I think he easily gets the project 3rd QB job on this squad.

Also ran into Gary Etcheverry in the parking lot and he smiled at me. This turned my impression of him around immediately. He will be the greatest coordinator this team has ever seen.

Lol I hope this is a joke?

Also Willy is a lock at #1, Hall pretty much a lock at #2..... The team traded for Brohm , McManus I assume likes the guy since he knows the most about him.... the dude has started in the NFL.... was fairly touted in his college career..... Marve would have to be perfect in pre season while Brohm completely shits the bed for him to take his spot.

Just because a guy can zip the ball in practice doesn't really mean anything yet.

I am pleased though that they brought in a guy who can throw the ball instead of bringing in guys with Dinwiddie floater arms...

They traded a conditional draft pick for him, hardly an investment that marries them to him.

[Tracker]

No question Willy has to be considered the default starter, and while Hall has CFL experience, Brohm still has to prove he deserves the #3 spot. All we can expect is that it will be an open competition and that no one will be awarded a spot for just showing up.

[BBlink]

I agree with a lot of what AKAChip said.  Honestly I mostly  watched the QBs and the receivers.

 

QBs - Willy looked pretty good.  Good zip on the ball.  Quick decisions.  Nothing overly flashy but I thought he was throwing the ball accurately.  

 

Hall was his usual self, decides where he's going to throw it, and it may be into a swarm but he does get it there.  

 

Marve may have the tools but he was showing a lot of "deer in headlights" not knowing where to go with the ball at times.  

 

Would say that Brohm had him beat out in that respect, but a lot of the time Brohm was just making the easy throw (which isn't necessarily a bad thing).  I think Brohm also comes off as the stiff, sit in the pocket NFL QB, but I may be wrong.

 

WR - Mario Urrutia was getting a lot of throws and looked fairly shifty and speedy with the ball in his hands (especially for a big guy).  Agreed that he had some of the better hands today.  

 

I would say C.J. Tarver had pretty good hands as well.  He is a very interesting player.  At times it didn't even look like he was trying to outrun people, but was still outrunning them.

 

Kemp, well, let's just say Mike that you didn't stay long enough to see some of his good work.  I know what you mean though, early on he was flat out dropping balls and didn't look super great.  But in 1 on 1s he looked dominant against some of the DBs out there.  Ran crisp, fast routes and made some of the DBs look silly.  But also dropped one in Skelly late.

 

Taylor Renaud looks to be one of the depth guys that could stick around.  He had more than one good catch out there today.  But again, the level of competition he was facing wasn't exactly stellar.

 

I don't know if I have any more to share, but I'll let you know if I think of something.

[BBlink]

Oh did anybody else see the guy that was running around on the far side of the field? At one point he took off in a sprint and looked like the next coming of Donavan Bailey.  Wow was he FAST.  I thought it might be Aaron Woods.

[BBlink]

We also had a good view of the punters.  Lirim Hruuuuuuuuuuuugh and Brett Maher can both boot 'em.  Pretty consistently getting them from one side of the field to the other (55-60 yards) with good hang time.  Someone tell me that I'm exaggerating.  The long snapper (Sean Blake) looked pretty good at long snapping.  That's good because that's probably all he really does.

[B-F-F-C]

Oh did anybody else see the guy that was running around on the far side of the field? At one point he took off in a sprint and looked like the next coming of Donavan Bailey.  Wow was he FAST.  I thought it might be Aaron Woods.

 

Don't know but I do have a bromance going on for Aaron Woods.   I see him as a very versatile player who can play ST's and back up at the receiver position.   Actually the way he's built he could probably back up at LB too.   

[ALuCsRED]

The long snapper (Sean Blake) looked pretty good at long snapping.  That's good because that's probably all he really does.

 

Most LSers (if not all) in the CFL and NFL are in the same boat.

[Fred C Dobbs]

Oh did anybody else see the guy that was running around on the far side of the field? At one point he took off in a sprint and looked like the next coming of Donavan Bailey.  Wow was he FAST.  I thought it might be Aaron Woods.

 

I noticed him sprinting down the far sideline twice. And yeah, did he ever look fast.

 

One of the guys I was sitting with pointed out that one of the things that was different this year from previous years, was that they were practicing the waggle at the beginning of practice. None of the American kids has ever had to do this before so it's good that they're being taught how to do it.

[JuranBoldenRules]

I hope it was Woods.  If he's 100% from that foot injury that's great news.

[Fatty Liver]

Haven't heard anything about Woods in a long time but sure hope he sticks with the club.

[Goalie]

 

 

It will be very difficult to believe Marve can overtake any of the other guys.

Hall and Brohms NFL experience will be tough to surpass.

 

Disagree with this. Maybe it was only one practice but this guy has all the tools. I'm in love.

 

Brohm was easily the weakest of the QBs and while I like what Hall brings to the table, he is what he is. Marve has zip on his throws and one particular example I have is on one play, he showed great mobility on a roll out to his right while being chased by a lineman and while on the run fired a bullet to Donovan Kemp. Perfect throw and a good example of what he can do. It's early, but I think he easily gets the project 3rd QB job on this squad.

 

Also ran into Gary Etcheverry in the parking lot and he smiled at me. This turned my impression of him around immediately. He will be the greatest coordinator this team has ever seen.

 

 

Lol I hope this is a joke?

 

Also Willy is a lock at #1,   Hall pretty much a lock at #2.....     The team traded for Brohm ,  McManus I assume likes the guy since he knows the most about him.... the dude has started in the NFL.... was fairly touted in his college career.....  Marve would have to be perfect in pre season while Brohm completely shits the bed for him to take his spot.      

 

Just because a guy can zip the ball in practice doesn't really mean anything yet.

 

I am pleased though that they brought in a guy who can throw the ball instead of bringing in guys with Dinwiddie floater arms...

 

And just cuz a guy had a cup of coffee in the NFL doesn't mean anything yet either. Whats the fascination with the NFL pedigree? You seem to be under the impression that just cuz these guys held a clipboard in the NFL for a season or 2, they are automatically better. Disagree completely with your reasoning as you seem to be basing your opinion on  guys just because  you heard of them. Brohm or hall are both pretty average, they aint nothing special. Marve? he's an unknown but... i'll tell you this much, If the young kid marve looks almost as good or equal to one of hall or brohm, he's on the roster ahead of one of them. That third spot is used for a developmental qb, not for some guy who held clipboards in the NFL.What does NFL experience really have to do with the CFL? how many NFL "experienced" qb's have come to the CFL with all the hype and done absolutely nothing..

 

So many that i cant even name them all. 

 

[Seavic Bleu]

Yantz actually didn't look out of place - great pitch and catch to Taylor Renaud  with Derek Jones in his face. 

 

I also thought that Marve stood out!

 

It was kinda cool to walk by Vega and Turner who were in the stands talking to Knuckles. Vega looks like a gladiator up close.

[Seavic Bleu]

QB coach Gene Dahlquist looked very active out there and certainly didn't seem like a senior citizen.

[JohnnyOnTheSpot]

Paris Cotton stood out for me at RB. He just looks like a CFL back, small but strong and fast. They had him catching some punts too.  Renaud is here to fight, great effort and good hands.  The one on ones were deceiving to me. Give the receiver all day, no pressure on the QB and knowing the DB has no help and yeah they are going to win that 90% of the time. The biggest cheer came on a pick on which I thought was a terribly thrown ball so not sure why so happy. Etch seemed like a real teacher, lots of explanations and direction. I'm thinking I may have judged him too soon. Wiley I didn't recognize at first, he's put on a ton.