Practice Notes: 8/11

Here’s some notes from today’s open practice based on all of the free videos from und.com.

• Demetrius Jones has some good zip on his passes and fired one of those quick hitters to George West with some speed. Jones then missed West pretty badly on a fake end around.
• Corwin Brown had the entire defense run a lap around the field after having 10 players on the field at one point.
• Steve Quinn looked pretty good out there. He made one really nice tackle on Armando Allen when it looked like Allen was going to be able to turn the corner. He also nearly picked off Bragg and stood up James Aldridge at the line.
• Robert Hughes is not just an inside runner – on one play he stiff armed Justin Brown and bounced outside for a really nice gain. Hughes followed his blocks very well and knew where he was going.
• Armando Allen is going to be a factor early and often this year – he very could be the biggest playmaker on offense for the Irish this year. He had plenty of nice runs and looked very good in the open field on a screen play. I don’t think he’ll unseat Travis Thomas as the starter, but he is going to have plenty of big plays for Notre Dame this year.
• Speaking of Thomas, he looked really good in the 9 on 7 drills which the offense really dominated. That is to be expected though as the defense was playing very basic packages.
• David Bruton looked really good playing against the run.
• Returning punts were Grimes, West, Zibby, and Allen. Zibby and Allen both busted one.
• Grimes made a GREAT catch over Wooden on pass Jones put up in the air for him to catch.
• Overall the running game seemed to be clicking really well which is good and bad news. Good that ND is running well, bad that the defense isn’t stopping them.
• Sharpley appeared to be the most accurate among the quarterbacks.
• Clausen had a ball slip out of his hand as he was throwing it and didn’t look like he had his full velocity out there.
• Weis had all of the freshman sing the alma mater together after practice before being joined by the entire team to sing the Fight Song.
• Morrice Richardson played pretty well against the run.
• First team offensive line – Sam Young, Dan Wenger, Sully, Michael Turkovich, and Paul Duncan. Not surprised Wenger is running with the first team, but am a little surprised Turk was in there over Carufel who I think will wind up starting.
• Taylor Dever doesn’t look like a freshman when he is standing around the other offensive linemen – he’s huge.
• First team defense looked to be Just Brown, Trevor Laws, and Pat Kuntz up front; Mo Crum, Joe Brockington, Anythony Vernagliz, and John Ryan as the linebackers; and then Zibby, Bruton, Wooden, and Lamert in the secondary.
• I’d be very surprised of Toryan Smith was not a starting linebacker this season.
• John Ryan had a really nice pick on one of the drills at the beginning of practice.
• I still stand by my prediction of Demetrius Jones starting against Tech. Weis has said all week that he won’t just start a QB that can manage a game, but wants someone who could take over a game and Jones fits the bill. Sharpley was the most accurate passer, but Jones just gives the offense another dimension.