Pads were out in full bloom today at spring practice as things finally got physical today. The tone was clear, early in practice: players were going to be pushed to their physical limits today.

Theme of the Day: Situational football & technique with physicality

Today during many of the offense vs. defense drills, there always seemed to be a scenario attached. “Okay, 3rd and 5 we need to get into field goal range” or “1:49 left in the game and we need a touchdown!” Both offense and defense needed to know their plays, their roles, and know them quickly, because these drills were all game speed.

In the battle of the two, offenses had their way today. QB Drew Lisk did an exceptional job in two-minute drills against a live defense. Cam Rising and Jake Bentley looked relatively sharp as well, but, Lisk got a lot of looks in that moment probably due to a better understanding of the playbook.

Group drills were done slightly different today because of the pads. On defense there were more tackling drills were implemented emphasizing the importance of wrapping up, keeping the head upright, attacking and going after a loose football. At 6’3”, LB Andrew Mata’afa covers a lot of ground when he propels himself into making a tackle.

Key Moment:

“Covey’s back.” -Coach Kyle Whittingham reiterated in his postgame conference. All it took was one end around to the right side of formation. Within less than a second Covey was on the second level of the defense heading towards the sideline and a quick plant of his outside foot and he’s now in the secondary. Then a jab left, right and back right again and he makes two guys in the secondary whiff. At that point the play was whistled dead but he wasn’t done. Covey tested the freshman Clark Phillips III 30 yards down the field just enough to make you think that if Covey wanted to take it to the house, then the house is where he’d be.

Standout Player:

Senior WR Tyrone Young-Smith looks every bit the part of an NFL receiver. He’s 6’4” and over 200 lbs. Today he looked like he could get where he wanted to on any route and even when he was covered, he out-physicalled the smaller defensive back. He seems to have great chemistry with any quarterback as well.

Quote of the Day:

The defense today did not have their best outing, they played like they look on paper, young and inexperienced. Fortunately they are only three practices into their 2020 season and have plenty of time to figure things out.

“As coaches you have a tendency to coach as if you’re playing [a game] next week, but when you understand development and development takes time, patience and perseverance. But we’re in the right direction.” -Defensive line coach Sione Po’uha