Saturday afternoon’s practice was solely for special teams, so as a chunk of the team ran drills on the field, the rest of the players hit the weight room a little early. Here are a few quick hits from the session:
ATTENDANCE REPORT: Rookie Spencer Larsen, who would most likely have taken part in this afternoon’s special teams practice, was absent attending to a family emergency. Chad Mustard, out of pads for both of the first days of training camp, jogged on the opposite field during practice. Newly-signed Taylor Jacobs took part in his first practice of training camp.
POSTURING FOR POSITION: The players fielding punts were Anthony Alridge, Glenn Martinez, Marquay McDaniel and Eddie Royal. Rookie Bret Kern and second-year vet Sam Palescu continued to share the punting duties, though many of the “punts” were made by a JUGS machine — essentially wheels spinning really quickly that launch footballs.
FOCAL POINTS: The players focused on pretty much all aspects of punting today — punt returns, pursuit, punt blocking and avoiding blockers to down the ball inside the 20. There was even a drill where the players were instructed to “scoop and score,” practicing what happens after a punt gets blocked.
KEY PLAYS: Today’s afternoon practice started off with a little humor.
Hamza Abdullah was outside in the middle of warm-ups when he found out he didn’t have to run with the special teams. So Abdullah jogged inside to hit the weight room, much to the chagrin of teammate Domonique Foxworth, who yelled at him all the way inside. “You’re not one of us, you’re one of them!” he joked.
- Special Teams Coach Scott O’Brien is a hands on teacher — one of the more active assistants you’ll see on the Broncos. Throughout practice he was out running the drills with the team, showing them exactly how it’s done before they perform it at full speed. He even acted as a punter, instructing players to try to block his kick.
- During one of the scoop-and-score drills, as the ball was bouncing around it got kicked into the air. During the scramble Andre Hall snatched the football and ran into the endzone.
It all starts again at 8:30 tomorrow morning, stay tuned to the blog for updates.
-Gray Caldwell, DenverBroncos.com
Tags: Gray Caldwell, Special Teams, Training Camp
hey, where is torain. pics? thanks man 4 da updates.
I’m glad that the team is placing such emphasis on special teams as they are. Teams in the NFL that are solid in the kick return, punt return and kicking games snatch victories on days when the offense struggles. Thus, this was definitely in the Broncos’ best interests. Hopefully, Spencer Larsen will be back at camp soon. He’s the best of both worlds, a UofA Wildcat and a Denver Bronco!
anything on Stokley you guys?
Timely updates…Many thanks for the pics and reports. We love this stuff! This is starting to look like Mason’s blog from last year! Thanks again.
Javalon:
They practiced the blocking procedures for punt returns, but they did not execute a punt return at full speed. As violent as those things are, I think they will probably reserve that for the preseason. The team is confident that once Eddie gets the ball in his hands, he will know what to do.
We will work on some Stokley and Torain pics this morning. Thanks for reading.
Im not sure who monitors this site as yet? But as long as we’re asking for pics and stuff. How about someone letting us in on the DT situation w/Carlton Powell going down for the season? Do we intend to bring in another DT to work out with the DL roster spot being open. I cant believe that either Peterson and Steven Harris is going to be THE answer. Powell was a 5th, but you know Shanny wouldnt have picked him unless he thought this guy would be IN the rotation this year. Please ask someone, and let us know…
HOGblog-
The team is actually at the 80-man roster limit. Well actually the roster stands at 81, but that includes Manuel Padilla who is on the International Practice Squad and doesn’t count towards the roster. Right now the coaching staff seems to be very confident with the group that is out there at DT. If we hear anything further, we will let you know.