Notes and Observations from Louisville's Second Open Fall Camp Practice

Here is our notebook from the second of six open practices for Louisville football's fall camp.

Louisville holds practice at L&N Stadium during fall camp. / Matt McGavic - Louisville Report

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Fall camp is in full swing for the Louisville football program. The Cardinals are kicking off their first week of their three-week long fall camp, with two sessions already in the books.

Their second practice, which took place on Friday, was the second of six practices that were open to both the fans and media. Like we were for practice No. 1, Louisville Report was there for it all to watch the second open practice of fall camp.

Related: Notes and Observations from Louisville's First Fall Camp Practice

Below is our notebook of the more notable happenings that transpired during the evening:

• After the players warmed up, the staff spent around the first 5-10 minutes working on special teams related drills, mainly with blocking on kickoff returns. Both Brock Travelstead and Nick Keller got th ebulk of the work here, with the former putting the most distance on the ball. It's just two practices in, but I've noticed that Louisville is spending a lot more time working on special teams than they were in the spring and in last year's fall camp.
• When they broke for positional drills, I immediately took note of who was still banged up. Like in the first practice, offensive tackle Jonathan Mendoza and wide receiver Jimmy Calloway were off to the side working with a trainer, but so was safety Daeh McCullough. Unlike the first practice offensive guard/tackle was back to practicing as usual.
• I spent the majority of the first set of positional drills watching the wide receivers. During the both the dummy and cone drills, the stop-and-go footwork of both JoJo Stone and Jahlil McClain stood out here. When Garrick McGee was assisting with route on air, Chris Bell and Antonio Meeks looked the sharpest, while Ja'Corey Brooks did look a bit stiff at first but eventually got better as the dat went on. Then the quarterbacks got involved and had the receivers runs the entire route tree. While Tyler Shough looked the sharpest, there were very few offline throws in this warmup period, and Brady Allen plus Deuce Adams looked better than they did in practice No. 1 - at least during this segment.
• After this, Louisville alternated between 7-on-7 and 1-on-1 practices reps. As far as the pass catchers go, Cataurus "Blue" Hicks has a pair of great concentration catches, as did McClain, while Jamari Johnson had a good over the shoulder snag, and guys like Bell and Jadon Thompson faired well here. This was despite the fact that Shough and Pierce Clarkson were a little offline at times. Adams was feast or famine, but when he was clicking, he was delivering good, snappy passes.
• Now onto the first 11-on-11 period. It seemed like Louisville was using the first few reps here to really experiment with lineups and had mass rotations between snaps. For example: William "Woo" Spencer and Jurriente Davis were running with the first team, while Ashton Gillotte was the second. During this stretch, Meeks had a great comeback route and catch from Clarkson, and Adams was able to draw a lineman offsides. Of note, it seems that the QB room as a whole has really been working on their hard counts.
• After that, Louisville moved into their normal "good on good" 11-on-11. On the defensive side, Adonijah Green, D'Angelo Hutchinson and Antonio Watts got the initial first team reps. It was the same offensive line from practice one (Mills-Gonzalez-Nygra-Collins-Miller), with Brown actually getting run as the second team tackle. Mark Redman and Jamari Johnson were getting cycled in and out with the ones at tight end.
• As far as the actual reps themselves go, it was pretty close to even between the offense and defense. Quincy Riley had a great read on Shough for a pick downfield, then Shough displayed his wheels on a speed option keeper a couple plays later. Isaac Brown had an explosive run up the gut, while Donald Chaney Jr. hit the hole on an outside zone for a big gain. J. Davis read an option play perfectly while Antonio Watts sniffed out a screen in minimal time. Richard Kinley bulldozed right past his blocked to force Clarkson to scramble, then Clarkson a few plays later drew the defense offsides and had great presence in a collapsing pocket to make a play. Bell had a tough, physical catch with Tahveon Nicholson draped all over him, while Tayon Holloway snagged a pick from Harrison Bailey. Brady Allen had a very late read and nearly threw a pick to Nicholson, but on the very next play threw a strike to Izayah Cummings.
• It was during this segment that we also had our first fight of fall camp. Maurice Davis had a hard tackle on Duke Watson, and Madden Sanker took up for Watson by going after Davis. Some blows were exchanged, but fortunately the ruckus didn't last too long, and practice was back to normal after a couple minutes.
• Following the first 11-on-11 segment, it went back to positional drills. Here, I went to go check out the linebackers (mainly because they're easier to watch while practice is at L&N Stadium than the practice fields or Trager Center). They worked on burst drills from out of their stance, then tested their ability to react to option plays. T.J. Quinn and Stanquan Clark, the projected inside linebacker starters, faired the best here, but guys like T.J. Capers and Dan Foster Jr. also stood out to me.
• Then it transitioned to a segment practicing punts and returns. Between Brady Hodges and Carter Schwartz, the latter seemed to have the longer and more consistent kicks. As far as who was returning said punts, Caullin Lacy, Jadon Thompson, Isaac Brown, Hicks and Riley were all taking part.
• Practice then broke off to 7-on-7 and OL vs. DL segment, and I mainly watched the latter. Guys like Gillotte, Dez Tell and Myles Jernigan had incredible reps, but in a drill that heavily favors the defensive line, I thought the offensive line did a very good job holding their own. Michael Gonzalez, Monroe Mills and Austin Collins looked the sharpest here. It's also during this segment that I noticed that Selah Brown was not practicing and did not even have a helmet with him.
• I did happen to glance over towards the 7-on-7 a few times. Allen threw a pick, but then immediately followed that up with a nice looking deep ball to Ja'Corey Brooks. Meanwhile, Deuce Adams looked very up-and-down, as is expected with a freshman seeing some of their first practice reps in college.
• Practice then wrapped up with the final 11-on-11 segment. Like the first, it was pretty even in terms of offense vs. defense. Thompson burned Riley on a double move for a touchdown. Chaney was able to weave through traffic and eek out through other side for extra yards. Nicholson had a big hit on Hicks for an incompletion, while Aaron Williams did the same with Jamari Johnson. Harrison Bailey got in a speed option keepers, while Pierce Clarkson had a nice RPO to Hicks. Stanquan Clark burst right through the OL and blew up a screen play, eliciting a huge reaction from the defensive sideline.
• Practice ended on a high note. Adams threw a deep post to Stone with Williams playing tight coverage, and the two lept for the 50/50 ball in the end zone. They fell to the ground together, still wrestling for the ball, and the entire offense and defense came rushing over to hype up their respective player. Eventually, Stone was the one who came up with the ball for the touchdown.

(Photo via Matt McGavic - Louisville Report)

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