Some notes and observations from the offensive side of the ball during the open portion of Thursday’s practice.
Coleman Thomas returns: After having theft charges against him dropped this week, sophomore offensive lineman Coleman Thomas returned to the practice field for the first time since early in spring practice. In the drills we saw, he was working primarily at center, and got reps as the second-team center behind Dylan Wiesman in one team period (Mack Crowder wasn’t present in the open periods).
Injuries/absences: Jalen Hurd, Pig Howard and Marquez North remained in green, non-contact jerseys. Alvin Kamara appeared to be full go for the second straight practice, putting behind him any issues he had last week with the bruised thigh.
Tight ends Neiko Creamer and Joe Stocstill seemed to get more work in at practice than they have over the past few weeks. Neither has been on any kind of official injury list, but both have clearly been limited in some capacity. As mentioned above, Crowder wasn’t present, but no cause for alarm necessarily, as players miss spring practice from time to time for class or personal reasons.
7-on-7 work: For the second straight practice, we got to see some 7-on-7 or “skeleton” drill. It was a third-down scenario (and yes, Third Down For What? was playing in the background). The first team completed two out of four attempts with Dobbs connecting with Jalen Hurd – who is very natural catching the ball – and also hitting Pig Howard on an out route for a nice gain. Dobbs barely overshot Ethan Wolf on another throw, and Howard dropped what looked to be a certain completion on the other rep.
The second-team offense completed 3/4 attempts. Dormady also found Hurd for a nice quick hitter that got a decent gain. Dormady just missed tight end A.J. Branisel on his next attempt on what was close to a catchable ball that just went off his fingers. Jauan Jennings checked in for the third play and hit a crisp, quick-hitting completion to Von Pearson. Dormady finished the drill off with a completion to Stocstill, who made a one-handed catch on the play.
Depth chart notes:
• In a team setting when they were just walking through plays (meaning injured players could be in), the two-deep looked like:
LT: 1. Kyler Kerbyson 2. Dontavius Blair
LG: 1. Marcus Jackson 2. Thomas Edwards
C: 1. Dylan Wiesman 2. Coleman Thomas
RG: 1. Jashon Robertson 2. Chance Hall
RT: 1. Brett Kendrick 2. Jack Jones
TE: 1. Ethan Wolf 2. A.J. Branisel/Joe Stocstill/Neiko Creamer
WR: 1. Pig Howard 2. Josh Malone
WR: 1. Marquez North 2. Jason Croom
WR: 1. Johnathon Johnson 2. Von Pearson
RB: 1. Jalen Hurd 2. Alvin Kamara
QB: 1. Joshua Dobbs 2. Quinten Dormady
