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Message: [QUOTE="Consigliere, post: 2162024, member: 559"] Was able to attend this morning as well. Some general observations. We arrived around 9:30. Team was going through some individual drills. At 10 sharp a siren sounded and Santana kicked in as they started a full scrimmage that lasted about 90 minutes. A bit behind in my reading so I apologize if I list news that was previously reported.: DEFENSE: DBs seemed to be much more in attack mode than the read and react like last year. Much tighter coverage off the line, very quick to the ball and aggressive tackling. It was good to see Devin Butler back and in action. After reports of him being carted off the field I thought that the best case would be for him to be back in August. Not prototypical size for a Tampa 2 safety but with his recognition skills and athleticism have to think Cordy will be a huge contributor in the fall. He was all over the field. Williams isn't far behind. Slayton and McKinley Williams are men at DT. World class in the looks test and disruptive in the middle of the line. McKinley is clearly a favorite of his teammates as his hyperactivity and enthusiasm seems to pump the entire D-line up. He did get into it with an O-lineman drawing offsetting personal foul penalties. Zaire grabbed him and sent him to the sidelines like a misbehaving schoolboy. When Clark returns we will have a very solid rotation in the middle of the line. Steven was on the sidelines not in uniform despite reports that he had been practicing a bit on a limited basis in individual drills. Hope all is going well healthwise. Was a bit disappointed by Samuels. Seemed even thicker than I remember and was not moving well. Still a great space eater against power running teams but may lose some snaps when we are facing more versatile offenses. DEs were solid but not standout. Moderate pressure, but aside from one big sack by Pickard not much stood out. Take the LBs for granted somewhat but JT certainly lived up to reports of significant improvement. With Bennett and Zaire this is a very solid unit. Armstrong played exclusively at the Mike and, while not at the level of Franklin, puts the position in solid hands for the foreseeable future. Dada got a lot of run with the 2s but really needs some time in the weight room. Nice frame but very thin for a linebacker. Did not see Shy much, if at all. Dulka was ion the field quite a bit at the Will. OFFENSE: Noticeably faster than last year. During one stretch I timed the plays and there was an average of 22 seconds between snaps. Pretty significant dropoff between QB2 and QB3. Offense noticeably slowed down with Dungey and Mahoney on the bench. Rex shows good size and a very strong arm but struggled with reads and pocket presence. Of course he was surrounded by 2nd and 3rd team offense but he clearly has some work to do if he wants to grab the pole position for the backup job before TD hits town. Not sure of the black jerseys made Dungey and Zack seem more svelte but Rex almost looked a bit pudgy too. Might have been the XXXXXXXL jersey he was wearing. No noticeable improvement in the running game. Moe played exclusively in the backfield which surprised me a bit. Breakdown was probably 80/20 pass to run and Strickland, Perkins and Neal (20+ yd. TD) each broke off at least one decent run but no consistency at all. Dungey and Mahoney in black non-contact jerseys and were able to get to open field a couple of times but whistles blew the plays dead at that point. Dungey clearly loves throwing the deep fade to Custis. Connected for 2 TDs with a third negated by a weird offsetting penalty. Called offensive PI, then DPI, then offsetting fouls. Mahoney hit him once on the same pattern. Ishmael, Pierce and Philips all had strong moments as well. Focused a lot on line play and while the O-line looked bigger, quicker and did not seem to wear down much at all the overall line play was pretty much even. D had some decent penetration especially in the middle and a couple of sacks and overall shut down the run. Offense in general protected well. Guess that's the best scenario in a scrimmage but I struggle to take anything away from watching until we're playing another team. Donnie Foster out with a full knee brace and really laboring. Assume he had a fairly significant injury but don't recall anything. Murph crushed a 49 yard FG with plenty to spare and missed a chip shot wide right. No live punting or kickoffs but the new 92 was booming them in warmups. Anxious to get a second look next week but starting to see signs. [/QUOTE]

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