**Maybe you can chalk it up to the first day jitters, but the QB's looked much better today in the second spring practice. They were much more confident stepping into their throws, hitting receivers between the numbers, and none stood out in a negative light. The patterns today were out routes to the sidelines, skinny posts up the middle, bubble screens, and play-action rollout to the strongside.
**The rotation was the same as two days ago: Malik Rosier (1's) and N'Kosi Perry (2's) threw every pass on the money, with Jarren Williams (4's) not far behind them; Cade Weldon (3's) had one low and away throw, but was otherwise good.
**The tight ends continued to struggle with drops. Brian Polendey was the big culprit today, but Michael Irvin II and walk-on Nicholas Ducheine had their fair share as well. At one point after a Ducheine drop, Todd Hartley was fed up and was barking up a storm at the group, threatening to kick Ducheine off the team and also yelling he'd be happy to play with two tight ends instead of three. Not a good start from a unit many were really hoping would step-up their play with Chris Herndon off and graduated. Brevin Jordan and Will Mallory can't get here soon enough.
**The first team defense today was like so:
DE Jon Garvin
DT Gerald Willis
DT Jon Ford
DE Joe Jackson
LB Derrick Smith
LB Shaq Quarterman
LB Michael Pinckney
CB Jhavonte Dean
S Sheldrick Redwine
S Robert Knowles
CB Michael Jackson
**Redwine stayed on the field at safety and was joined by Amari Carter when the second team took the field. Carter also got heavy reps at first team safety rotating in for Knowles. This looks to be a true position battle between the three to start alongside Jaquan Johnson at safety, who was in class for the early portion of practice today.
**Despite what Mark Richt says about being in nickel, how he reps players at different positions, and changes not being permanent, Derrick Smith looks awfully natural at SAM linebacker and fits well into the first team. If this is truly Miami's nickel package, it seems like something they'll be going to a lot this year and could become their base defense. It's the second practice in a row they've started with that defensive alignment.
**Trajan Bandy and Gilbert Frierson were second team at corner. Frierson is really physically impressive as someone that should still be in high school right now and he moves well with that build; I honestly mistook him for an upperclassman until I checked the roster. His progress will be intriguing to monitor this spring as someone who I think will play a huge role on this team come fall.
**Second team at linebacker was De'Andre Wilder, Mike Smith, and Zach McCloud. Didn't take note of the second team D-Line because the QB's started throwing routes around that time.
**LATE EDIT: In the interview portion after practice, the offensive line stayed on the field to hit the sleds after everyone already left (Tre Johnson was not present). The depth chart was:
First Team: St. Louis - Jones - Gauthier - Donaldson - Brown
Second Team: Herbert - Scaife - Gaynor - Mahoney - Hillery
Third Team: Campbell - Milo - Dykstra
**The rotation was the same as two days ago: Malik Rosier (1's) and N'Kosi Perry (2's) threw every pass on the money, with Jarren Williams (4's) not far behind them; Cade Weldon (3's) had one low and away throw, but was otherwise good.
**The tight ends continued to struggle with drops. Brian Polendey was the big culprit today, but Michael Irvin II and walk-on Nicholas Ducheine had their fair share as well. At one point after a Ducheine drop, Todd Hartley was fed up and was barking up a storm at the group, threatening to kick Ducheine off the team and also yelling he'd be happy to play with two tight ends instead of three. Not a good start from a unit many were really hoping would step-up their play with Chris Herndon off and graduated. Brevin Jordan and Will Mallory can't get here soon enough.
**The first team defense today was like so:
DE Jon Garvin
DT Gerald Willis
DT Jon Ford
DE Joe Jackson
LB Derrick Smith
LB Shaq Quarterman
LB Michael Pinckney
CB Jhavonte Dean
S Sheldrick Redwine
S Robert Knowles
CB Michael Jackson
**Redwine stayed on the field at safety and was joined by Amari Carter when the second team took the field. Carter also got heavy reps at first team safety rotating in for Knowles. This looks to be a true position battle between the three to start alongside Jaquan Johnson at safety, who was in class for the early portion of practice today.
**Despite what Mark Richt says about being in nickel, how he reps players at different positions, and changes not being permanent, Derrick Smith looks awfully natural at SAM linebacker and fits well into the first team. If this is truly Miami's nickel package, it seems like something they'll be going to a lot this year and could become their base defense. It's the second practice in a row they've started with that defensive alignment.
**Trajan Bandy and Gilbert Frierson were second team at corner. Frierson is really physically impressive as someone that should still be in high school right now and he moves well with that build; I honestly mistook him for an upperclassman until I checked the roster. His progress will be intriguing to monitor this spring as someone who I think will play a huge role on this team come fall.
**Second team at linebacker was De'Andre Wilder, Mike Smith, and Zach McCloud. Didn't take note of the second team D-Line because the QB's started throwing routes around that time.
**LATE EDIT: In the interview portion after practice, the offensive line stayed on the field to hit the sleds after everyone already left (Tre Johnson was not present). The depth chart was:
First Team: St. Louis - Jones - Gauthier - Donaldson - Brown
Second Team: Herbert - Scaife - Gaynor - Mahoney - Hillery
Third Team: Campbell - Milo - Dykstra
