The defense for the Bobcats owned the morning on the fourth day of Spring Practice
The second week of spring practice began for the Bobcats on Tuesday, with almost all present and accounted for. The most notable absence being quarterback JD Sprague, who was still absent from practice due to his operation. It is unknown if he will return for the the final weeks of spring practice.
Here are some news and notes from the practice:
- The Bobcats began practice with a version of the Oklahoma Drill, with two sets of an offensive and defensive player in front of a ball-carrier. This practice featured much more hitting than the previous practice on Friday.
- Sebastian Smith and Jordan Reid looked sharp, with Reid catching two deep passes in team drills and Smith catching almost everything that was thrown his way. The Bobcats will have impressive height at receiver this year, with both Reid and Smith standing at 6-foot-3, in addition to Brandon Cope and Tim Helton at 6-foot-2.
- With Sprague out, the other four quarterbacks are competing for the starting job. They rotated who got first team reps throughout the day, depending on the drill. Greg Windham was able to showcase his arm in team drills, and clearly has the strongest arm on the team. The redshirt senior played in six games last season.
- It wasn’t a good start to the practice, however, for the quarterbacks and receivers, as dropped balls and missed timing routes were seen often in the early parts of the morning.
- With the offense struggling, that’s not to say the defense wasn’t impressive. As the backbone of the team last season, the early results appear to be the same for next season once again.
- Quentin Poling, the starting middle linebacker, made a few sharp plays on the day in seven on seven and team drills, including a pass breakup where he came from across the field to bat away an out route — only to see the deflection caught by A.J. Ouellette.
- Defensive end Kurt Laseak was impressive in team drills, disrupting several run plays in the backfield, as well as rushing the passer on would-be sacks in real action. Quarterbacks are not allowed to be hit in practice.
- The defensive backfield disrupted the offense throughout the day, keeping the passing attack somewhat in check. The secondary, which forced a dozen interceptions last season, figures to be a strength once again this season.
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