http://florida.247sports.com/Bolt/Practice-Notes-QBs-show-good-timing-in-newcomer-session-105765903
GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Florida held its first practice of fall camp on Thursday afternoon, with the newcomers and some second-year players and walk-ons taking part in the first of two sessions inside the indoor practice facility.
GatorBait.net recaps the highlights from the sessions that were open to the media.
The timing was pretty good for a newcomers practice
There wasn't a whole lot of live reps in the sessions available to the media, which is typical for the newcomer session to open camp. The team didn't start with its normal fastball period, which is a series of quick plays run in full 11-on-11.
Instead, the coaches broke players down into position work immediately.
The quarterbacks and receivers threw a lot of routes in Thursday's work, and the timing for both quarterback
Kyle Trask and
Jake Allen was impressive. Typically Florida doesn't mix in more complex routes until later in camp, but both threw a handful of high-difficulty routes.
The one that stood out the most was in red zone work, with receivers running a double move pattern that initially broke out like a corner route before tacking back and going into a deep post. Quarterbacks were supposed to throw right as the receiver went into his break off the corner route into the post, meaning it was completely a timing throw.
Trask threw a couple exceptionally well-timed passes, while Allen was generally good.
In other routes, Allen showed a lot of zip on his passes, particularly on the slants. In fact, a couple of his receivers struggled to catch his slants.
Kadarius Toney wore an orange non-contact quarterback jersey but spent his time at receiver. He had a couple drops and didn't look very natural catching the ball, fighting it with his hands at times.
But overall, it was a fairly good debut for Allen working with new receivers in his first practice.
The defensive signees definitely look the part
Florida signed a lot of players it's going to count on defensively in the 2017 cycle, and the vast majority of them look physically ready to play from Day 1.
Though there wasn't contact in the sessions open to the media, both defensive linemen
Tedarrell Slaton and
Elijah Conliffe looked extremely imposing. They both have towering frames and look like they can withstand the physicality of the SEC.
The cornerbacks were also a very impressive group.
Marco Wilson has terrific size, as does
Brian Edwards (though Edwards is a little leaner). Christopher Henderson also worked with the cornerbacks.
Working with the safeties were freshmen Brad Stewart,
Shawn Davis and
Donovan Stiner. For what it's worth, Wilson, Henderson, Stewart and Davis were with the defense taking first-team reps.
Other News & Notes
-- At linebacker,
Lacedrick Brunson lined up at middle linebacker, while
Ventrell Miller lined up on the strong side and
James Houston lined up on the weak side.
--
Antonneous Clayton and Jordan Smith were two second-year players working in the first session of the day, and they were clearly leaders in the group. They were both very energetic at the start of practice, leading Swamp Jacks and riling up the rest of the players.
-- One player who appears in serious danger of getting passed up on the depth chart is redshirt sophomore
Richerd Desir-Jones. He moved from the offensive line to the defensive line in spring camp to shore up the defensive tackle numbers. But he was towered over by not only Slaton and Conliffe but also defensive end
Zachary Carter. He appears much less physically imposing than his listed 6-foot-4, 292-pound frame would suggest.
-- Tight end
Kemore Gamble is one player who has made some serious physical progress over the summer. He looks as big as any of Florida's current tight ends, but he was still moving extremely well on Thursday.
-- Allen's release was inconsistent but intriguing. He tends to release the football from a side angle, but he gets it out fairly quickly.