TU Spring Practice Notebook No. 10
Inside Tulsa Sports' series of spring practice notebooks provide Tulsa fans with news, notes and insight on player performances, positional battles, spectacular plays and much more from the Golden Hurricane's workout sessions, as they prepare for the 2005 season. Check out the happenings and highlights from Friday's practice, including notes on Jarius Glenn's first day in full pads this spring.
• Enjoying good weather for the first time this week, the Hurricane worked through a short practice in anticipation of Saturday's scrimmage, set for 3:30 p.m. at Skelly Stadium.
• Senior receiver Jarius Glenn made his first appearance in full gear and had some mixed results. Early on, during position drills, Glenn had a bit of trouble with a couple catches, showing the first signs of nervousness he's had since donning the football suit. He did, however, settle down and show some wickedness later.
• It appears the coaching staff is keenly interested in Glenn's potential, as he is the frequent recipient of coaching tidbits from Coach Matt Wells (tight ends), Coach Bob Schultz (receivers), Coach Charlie Stubbs (offensive coordinator) and Head Coach Steve Kragthorpe. Each shared a few words with Jarius after he ran patterns or sought to make a downfield block. They are all working hard to help him make up for the long layoff from football.
• One defender who likely considers Glenn ready now is cornerback Nick Graham. During the Red Zone drill, Jarius lined up wide right and Graham lined up about a yard off the line to defend him. At the snap, Glenn exploded off the line and gave Nick a two-hand shot to the chest that nearly put him on his backside. Glenn then slanted toward the middle and caught a perfectly thrown pass that was chest high for the score. Provided he continues this sort of play and develops quickly, the defensive playbook on Glenn will read, "Do not attempt to play bump-and-run on this man."
• Glenn had another very noticeable play a little earlier in the day, running a fly pattern against cornerback Terrance Thomas. On the play, he had good separation (2-to-3 yards) and was stepping out, and the ball came sailing directly overhead. Jarius made the mistake of looking straight up for the ball, which killed his speed, instead of looking over his shoulder. The ball was incomplete, and Glenn got coached up. This fall, that could go for six.
• The play along the line of scrimmage is really heating up as spring rolls along. Senior nose guard Brandon Lohr had a nice chat with junior offensive tackle Mike Mengers and followed it up with a tet-a-tet with center Aaron Danenhauer. These guys are really bringing it, as we close in on the end of spring drills.
• Lots of dings and dents have come along this spring, but you expect that because there are a limited number of practices and only the first two were in less than full gear. The hitting this spring, much like last year, is vigorous and spirited, so there are lots of sore and bruised players out there.
• Tulsa has been lucky, thus far, that the injuries have not been of a serious nature. A few guys have been held out to avoid exacerbating dings they've received or to give them added time to heal from last year's more serious hurts.
• Sophomore running back Cauvey Jackson was riding the stationary bike this week and feeling a bit down because of a ding that will cause him to miss the final week of drills. Down, that is, until he realized that nobody actually wins jobs in spring drills, but win them in two-a-days in the fall. Spring is when a ballplayer can step out of the shadows and "put his hat in the ring", though, and Cauvey has already done that.
• Saturday will be the final scrimmage before the Spring Game next Friday night, and these guys appear ready to shine. It is in these scrimmages that players can announce themselves or shoot themselves in the foot. Trust that some of both will happen.
SPRING FOOTBALL ARCHIVE:
Stay tuned to Inside Tulsa Sports for more on spring drills throughout the week!