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The Beavers were out for their 12th day of fall camp at the Prothro Practice Fields Thursday afternoon. Here’s everything you need to know from the day.
- We aren’t going to start off with quarterbacks. No, we are going to start off with sophomore kicker Everett Hayes. The sophomore kicker had an impressive Thursday, knocking in both 55- and 60-yard field goals, with a few yards to spare on each of them. Post-practice, Hayes said the longest FG he has made in practice (and feels comfortable with) is from 65 yards out. Hayes also easily knocked the ball into the end zone during kickoff drills.
- While Sam Noyer was the first quarterback on the field during live drills yesterday, Tristan Gebbia was the first one out there during live drills on Thursday. He definitely had his ups and downs. Ups? Right off the bat during 11-11 two-minute drills, Gebbia fired a rocket into the stomach of Tyjon Lindsey between two defenders for a big gain. Downs? Later in practice with pressure in his face rolling out to his right, Gebbia fired an off-balance pass into coverage where Kitan Oladapo dove back for a sweet interception. (“It’s about time,” he said after practice, his first INT of fall camp)
- That interception was really a stamp on what was a good day for the defense. During most live sessions, the offense wasn’t pushing the ball downfield as much and there wasn’t too much ground for the running backs to work with.
- We didn’t see too much spectacular from Sam Noyer today. His highlight was a big fourth-down conversion while he stood in the pocket to Bryce Caufield on his biggest throw of the day.
- Both Noyer and Gebbia looked comfortable in two-minute drills earlier in practice. Both got rid off the ball quickly to lead the offense to a pair of Hayes field goals.
- The only touchdown that I counted during live drills was with Chance Nolan in the last series of practice. Nolan fumbled the ball on a handoff exchange, picked it up after it rolled off to his right a few feet, and while the entire defense crashed toward the running back, Nolan sprinted through the wide-open gap in the middle for a touchdown.
- You can always take one-on-ones with a grain of salt, but redshirt freshman John Dunmore put a sick double-move down the near sideline for an easy touchdown during his rep. Another impressive rep, true frosh corner Sklyer Thomas manhandled fellow freshman Trent Walker out of bounds on a route, it looked like Walker had absolutely no chance to break free.
- The offense tried quite a few screens during 11-11 sessions, they had little success. The defensive line and linebackers were quick to the edge in snuffing those out. Linebacker Semisi Saluni had the best play on them, bursting into the passing lane and nearly picking off the screen pass from Noyer.
- This is the last practice we will hear from players and coaches until after Saturday’s second scrimmage. The coaching staff hasn’t played their hand on who they think is leading the way for the starting QB role. Saturday will be very telling. The scrimmage will be open to the public.
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