By Brian Clark
With rain in the forecast and a light drizzle falling on the field at Hofstra University, it was a relatively small gathering of Jet faithful at the first Training Camp practice of the 2008 season. With about 200 diehard Jet fans in attendance they were able to get the first glance at the new look Jets.
Drills today included:
Handoff/running drills without the line
11 v 11 drills with just offense and just defense
11 v 11 drills offense vs defense
Special Teams return drills
Field Goal drills
Individual unit drills
Some notes from the drills:
The quarterbacks (Pennington and Clemens) were mostly ineffective. Pennington missed a few connections with Cotchery and Coles, and although he threw two in the hands of Bubba Franks, he dropped both. Perhaps he’s more used to a ball with more zip (from Favre). On Clemens’ first pass he threw an INT to Barton, perfect pass to the opposing Linebacker. Otherwise he missed on a few other connections. Both quarterbacks threw quite a few ducks for distances of 20-30 yards. The most effective passer was Brett Ratliff. He made a few nice passes underneath, and then hit Paul Raymond on a 30 yard pass over the top (yes, the famous Brett Ratliff to Paul Raymond connection)
For the running backs Danny Woodhouse was running hard and was working hard in the piles. Leon Washington had a strong practice, looking fast on both kickoff returns as well during the drills. On one run he bounced it to the outside and would have gone for at least 30-40 yards if he didn’t go the distance, even if there was full contact or live game.
As for the Nugent fans out there, he went 5-6 from kicks from 25-45 yards, went 1-3 from 50 yards out, and got the ball near the goal line on kickoffs.
Jenkins looked strong on a few of the 1v1 drills against a OL. Brick did well on both Ellis and Pace (two different types of rushers)
As for other notes from the first practice:
When Eric Barton was asked “Do you need training camp?” the response was “F**k no” Guess that seems to be the general sentiment from many of the regulars.
Keller looked good in the first practice, and looks like (especially with how Bubba Franks is), that he will be getting most of the balls thrown his way.
Chad played with the first team today, but for all your KC lovers, don’t worry, it isn’t necessarily an indication of who will be getting the starting role, it just is to balance out the number of reps each QB gets.
Autographs were signed by the some linebackers and d-lineman. Leon Washington and Laverneus Coles also came over and signed a few for us Jetnation.com guys, after a few comments made to them post practice.
There will be another report tonight after the afternoon practice.