Friday's afternoon practice

The mornining's practice weatherwise was on the cool side but in the afternoon the sun came through and warmed things up.

The afternoon practice started at 2:45 and went to 5. The morning crowd seemed light but in the afternoon the fans were there in abundance. The vendors were walking up and down the aisles selling water and gatorade.

The beginning of practice is tough to watch only because there is so much going on. Each position group were doing their own drills. It was a matter of what you want to watch.

The running backs were working on blocking in the backfield while the tight ends were working on catching quick rythm passes.

The special teams worked on 2 on 1 drills meaning 2 defenders were trying to attempt to stop the gunner from getting down the field. I came out of there very impressed with the effort of first round draft choice Harrison Smith. His strength and speed was shown as the gunner was having a hard time getting off the line of scriamge.

I believe it was around 4:15 when the defense went up against the offense. The players had no pads on but wore helmts and jersey and shorts. The day had finally come where I could watch Jared Allen go against Matt Kalil. What a battle this is going to be during camp. The size of Kalil is unreal.

The temp of practice was quite quick and at times seemed very crisp. I saw some unbelievable catches by the wide receivers. One guy to keep an eye on is Jarius Wright, the rookie out of Arkansas. The speed and hands he displayed will be something to watch as camp rolls.

The tight ends today were everything I had hoped for. Kyle Rudolph and John Carlson were vacuums at least today. The seam pass was beautiful to watch. Rudolph makes it look so easy. I know it is only the first day but there has to be a start and a good start it was.

The practice was organized and so fun to watch. The little over 2 hours the practice lasted seemed to fly,

There were a couple of fun moments. Joe Webb was running down the field for the next drill when Christian Ponder came flying up to catch him. Webb looked over his shoulder and the race was on.

Webb was heading of the field to the sideline. Antoine Winfield was on one knee watching practice on the same side Webb was runnnig to. The next things you know Webb came running at Winifield and there goes Webb as he high jumped over Winfield. The look on Winfield's face was priceles.

Jerome Simpson was making an effort diving to attept to catch a deep ball. He stretched out for everyting he had and just missed it. The crowd let out a collective oooooh!!! Outside linebacker Erin Henderson comes running to the front of the stands and humorosly lets out an oooooh as well and then he ran back to the huddle.

The first unit ofensive line had as follows- LT Matt Kalil, LG-Charlie Johnson C-John Sullivan RG- Brandon Fusco and RT- Phil Loadholt. The only surprise and it was a good one is 2nd year Brando Fusco was in there woith the first unit.

One strange sight, but is part of the NFL and that is players leaving and coming. It is so strange to see a new # 40,76 and 81 out on the field. Jim Kleinsasser,Steve Hutchinson, and Visanthe Shiancoe are gone and now the new 40 is Rhett Ellison, 76-Geoff Schwartz and 81 is Jerome Simpson.

The newness of the team is real.It was a great day and a fun way to start the 2012 Training Camp.

Thanks for reading
Purplestick