2021 Practice Reports

[AstroDin]

I thought I would start a thread for practice reports. Being a remote entrepreneur now ( ) hopefully I can make some practices during the week. I'll post what I can share, and if anyone attends practice - please share your take.

Saturday, August 7th
By the time I made it to Furman, it was a beautiful sunny day on campus.
Today was shorts and helmets.
Defense - Purple
Offense - White
All QBs - Red Jersey's

After warmups - Furman went right to it - a rapid-fire offense vs defense no huddles series sets.
Sisson, Wilson, Minson each got a series.

At the next horn blast, Furman went into position drills.
I was closest to the running backs, quarterbacks, and receivers. The running back corps is impressive as you would expect. The veterans looked ready to go; Wynn and Anderson at TB, Abrams and Roberto ar RB. K Thomas has added some weight and looks bigger especially arm-wise. Watching KT cut and sprint in shorts is impressive he can scoot.

We have two new runningbacks both from Texas. Myion Hicks #7 is getting reps at RB, Grant Robinson #18 is getting reps at TB. Robinson for his size over 6-0 210+ is shifty and fluid.

Not sure what you can read into a day two practice but the receivers looked good, Furman drilled the QBs and WR/TE in sets of two at the same time - lots to watch and take in. I did see Shiflett make several good catches. Freshman Joshua Harris standouts — granted he's a long 6-2 receiver, he also can scoot on deep passes.

Next — quarterbacks. Lots of red jerseys but our interest is on 9-16-5. Furman rotated a lot of reps with these three. It was just day two and of course no pads — my guess is there will be competition. All three threw well. Jace (#16) is a cool QB, he doesn't get rattled by a high snap and has a very quick release. Minson also puts zip on the ball. Sisson has continued to get bigger and I feel stronger he threw two beautiful deep passes right on target.

For the most part, my eyes were glued to the offense but I did witness some stellar defense when they went into line drills. London Lewis and Adrian Hope and Elijah McKoy were out of control - blowing things up. That said the OL played nasty and they got after it.

[The Jackal]

Thanks, Astro.

From your report, it sounds like the offense has a lot of quality options, but a great deal to sort out on the depth chart.

As preseason practice starts, there may be only a couple of guys locked into spots, but a lot of guys that could take those spots. Competition is good.

[AstroDin]

Thanks, Astro.

From your report, it sounds like the offense has a lot of quality options, but a great deal to sort out on the depth chart.

As preseason practice starts, there may be only a couple of guys locked into spots, but a lot of guys that could take those spots. Competition is good.

Jackal — I've seen a lot of early-season practices - what caught me off guard first was the speed of the reps right from the start. I thought the players would go right into drills and instead they went (I'm guessing here) one on one, two on two, and three on three.

As a spectator there are a lot of players out there this year - I can't remember seeing that many players before. Thinking about what I shared I did a disservice to all three offensive skill positions. There is a larger group of freshmen out there in the heat. I'm pretty sure it's Gabe Johnson a 6-5 QB who threw a couple of really pretty deep balls. And Chase Absher IMO should be included in this insanely deep group of RBs.

I think receivers (WR and TE) are going to be critical this season. There are a lot of players out there. We have three veterans DeLuca-Miller-Bell. There are the two FBS transfers, Shiflett and Henderson (both are bigger body receivers). Gunn and Hughes are speed guys that made the transition in the spring from being hybrid RB/WR players in HS. I mentioned Harris earlier, the other obvious thing you'll notice is the height of this group. Furman drilled TEs with the WRs yesterday. Healy (6-2+) and Whittemore (6-4) our incoming freshmen TEs bring size and they can run - they're not slow. By my count, there are 11 players in the WR/TE group that will be competing - 8 at WR and 3 at TE.

Thinking about receivers — let's circle back to the running backs. Furman's running backs aren't one-dimensional. My guess is our group of runningbacks was recruited because they also can catch the ball. K Thomas is an excellent receiver - I saw him make a nice sideline catch yesterday. Grant Robinson lined up in the slot, made a catch and I pulled out my hone checked the roster — and I had a duh moment - that's the running back Grant Robinson. Robinson's body type plays with your mind a little at 6-1 210 (I've seen him listed also at 6-0 - no way) at running back he's a slasher type bigger-back, when he moves into the slot or a receiver position your brain goes there's a receiver. I'm really curious to see Robinson in pads and during contact drills.

[The Jackal]

Benefit too is that the QBs taking third team reps are still repping with guys likely to play a good bit this year.

[Jasper]

Look like some very good athletes in the growing Texas contingent. Jace Wilson shows a lot of promise. Colt Minson is very poised. They both have great QB names as well.
That said, Hamp Sisson appears to have made changes in his throwing delivery and was getting the ball downfield better than I have ever seen him. He threw two 40+ yard bombs right on the money that were both caught as well. Improvement in that area could be huge for FU - opens up the entire offense if used.
Defense is experienced and very spirited. DB's looked particularly good. Lots of hooping and hollering on inters.
Great to see Elijah McCoy back out there after recovering from a serious leg injury. That Bandit position could be a real strong point for this D.

[apaladin]

Astro-thanks for the report. Please keep them coming. I’m going to try to make a couple of practices when they get in pads.