The high today was 99 degrees and it felt like 109, but the Tar Heels didn't let a little thing like heat faze them. Coaches walked in and out of the stretching lines trying to convince players that it wasn't that hot. Despite the heat, the Tar Heels were very enthusiastic while getting into their stretching lines. Moving into position, the whole team was clapping, hooting and hollering. Hakeem Nicks walked around and chest-bumped each of his fellow wide receivers. T.J. Yates did the same with the quarterbacks and a few of the bulkier offensive linemen--who sent him backwards...
The running backs ran through pads held by their teammates, and Coach Ken Browning was constantly admonishing the younger backs to keep their heads up as they emerged from the sea of pads. But one running back earned the praise of his coach. Sophomore Ryan Houston's newly streamlined body may have dropped some bulk, but he is still a solid mass of humanity. The "thwack"
of his body hitting the pads sounded more painful for the pads than for Houston. As he emerged through the other end, Coach Browning clapped enthusiastically and said, "Now that's how you finish a drill!"
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One of the handful of players competing for time beyond the big three (Nicks, Tate, and Foster) at wide receiver is Rashad Mason. He redshirted last year, so he's an unknown to many fans, but he has impressive athleticism. How athletic? After catching a touchdown pass during 1-on-1 drills, he punctuated the play with a windmill dunk over the goalpost, looking just a little like his childhood friend (and former Tar Heel) Brandan Wright...During goal line drills, one of the final periods of the day, Bobby Rome caught a pass and immediately heard a couple coaches shout, "Turn it upfield, Bobby!"
They needn't have worried. Rome grabbed the ball, pointed his shoulders towards the goal line, and thundered into the end zone--and through Jonathan Smith, Marcus Wall-style...
Coach Davis addressed the media today and was impressed with how much more efficient the players have been practicing in his second year as head coach. "There are two ways to go about training camp. You can work like mules, which is not very smart but you'd be working hard, or you can work like thoroughbreds, and I think that they've chosen the latter. The efficiency is much better than a year ago in the way in which they approach each drill. They know the focus of it, what has got to get accomplished,"
Davis said...
Davis has been impressed by Aaron Stahl, who sat out today but has been taking snaps at center. "He's very, very fast, smart, he's athletic, he's powerful, he's strong, he can pull and run and that's a real plus when your center can be somebody that's that mobile and can be a part of the blocking schemes that you worry about trying to get to the second level against very, very fast, athletic linebackers."
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Tomorrow will be the first of two-a-day practices, which will be about an hour and 45 minutes each. Today was the second day in pads and allows Davis to learn more about his team. "When you go to pads, you see the guys that really excel with contact - guys that love the contact, guys that are physical by nature. Some guys are maybe not quite as physically gifted as another guy, but they are just so tough and so physical that they make up for some of those shortcomings."
