Tonight was the team's first 7pm practice of training camp. So bring on the observations. Up first is Edgar Thompson:
Tonight, he's doing a little resistance training between fields with a trainer, who's using a rubber band and broom handle to build his strength.
-Another tough start for Ronnie Brown, who was knocked back 4 yards by 340-pound DT Keith Traylor on the first play of the middle drill Sunday.
Tuesday, S Renaldo Hill flattened Brown on his first carry of the drill. That might have been the biggest hit of the camp.
-Chris Chambers makes a terrific catch of a Gibran Hamdan pass in the corner of the end zone over CB Derrick Johnson.
-Ted Ginn Jr. makes a nice snag on a post pattern with CB Will Allen a half step behind him. Perfect pass from Trent Green.
-Green to Kerry Reed on another nice hook up in the other corner of the end zone. Reed, a free-agent pickup, continues to impress.
-It didn't take long for Green to throw another INT to CB Travis Daniels. Coaches believe Daniels is in for a good year now that he's recovered from a bone spur in his ankle.
-By the way, the offensive line hasn't changed, with Anthony Alabi at RT and Drew Mormino at RG. C Samson Satele, LG Chris Liwienski and LT Vernon Carey remain the same.
-Time for the red-zone drill, first-team O against first-team D from the 20.
1st play: Green throws it away. 2nd play: Green throws it out of the back of the end zone because WR Marty Booker is blanketed. 3rd play: Brown with a solid gain, but hard to tell because no tackling is allowed. 4th play: Green probably would have been sacked and ends up dumping it off to Brown.
-Beck in ... 3rd team vs. 3rd team. 1st play: Draw to RB Ray Perkins. Stuffed. 2nd play: Beck bullet to Reed, who beats CB Geoff Pope. Nice. 3rd play: Beck throws it out of bounds. No one open. 4th play: Beck threads it to TE Courtney Anderson. Nice hook up.
As always, if I find more, I'll be sure to let you all know.
**UPDATE**: Alright, I found 2 more practice reports. The first is a short blurb courtesy of Harvey Fialkov:
Rookie QB John Beck sparkled in the red-zone drill, threading a bullet to TE Courtney Anderson, who made a nice grab. Gotta agree with my cohort Omar Kelly, Beck is having the best camp by far of the four QBs. Brady who?
The next one is a bit longer, courtesy of Jeff Darlington:
-Beck threw a 20-yard dart into the end zone to Ginn, which was the second nice connection between the two during the day. In the morning session, Beck also hit Ginn on a 50-yard throw with double coverage.
-Beck also looks considerably comfortable passing to wide receiver Kerry Reed. Reed, an undrafted rookie who grew up in Homestead, has shown some nice hands so far during camp. He had one particularly nice catch as he ran across the middle of the end zone, snagging Beck's crisp pass at full speed.
-On the other end of the field, running back Jesse Chatman blew through the middle of the line of scrimmage during contact drills, and he probably would have had a huge gain even if the linebackers were ''allowed'' to tackle. Very explosive play.
-Although he still looks like he's getting acclimated to his new receivers, Trent Green had a gorgeous throw to Ginn, threading it perfectly with cornerback Will Allen in tight coverage. Cornerback Travis Daniels later picked off a pass by Green, which means the quarterback has thrown an interception every day of camp.
-Some plays, wide receiver Derek Hagan makes brilliant, acrobatic catches that look like impossible receptions. Other times, he drops easy passes. But during the evening practice, he certainly made the better of the two. With his arms completely outsretched in the corner of the end zone, Hagan somehow pulled in a ball that looked like it was considerably overthrown by Cleo Lemon. With cornerback Derrick Johnson in coverage, Hagan stayed in bounds as the ball laid into his fingertips.
They will be back at it tomorrow at 3:30. Just one practice tomorrow. I'm sure the team likes that.