Practice No. 18: The Texas A&M football team worked out in full pads at the Coolidge practice fields Monday morning for 3 hours.
"I thought we were a little rusty today," said A&M head coach Mike Sherman adding that it didn't surprise him coming off an off day on the heels of fall camp's second scrimmage.
A&M president R. Bowen Loftin talked to the team before practicing.
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Defensive line shuffle: Junior Jonathan Mathis (6-2, 285) saw action at nose guard. The transfer from Blinn had been working out at defensive end behind Lucas Patterson (6-4, 303), who is having an outstanding fall camp. Patterson, like Mathis, has practiced at both end and nose guard.
"I want to put [Mathis] in a position where he can get some reps in the game," Sherman said. "We still want him to learn defensive end. I think he can really help us at the nose guard position. It's a critical position in our defense, that's why I moved him over there."
Patterson, junior end Tony Jerod-Eddie (6-5, 300) and junior nose guard Eddie Brown (6-0, 288) are considered the team's top three defensive linemen.
Sherman wants to be nine deep on the line in the 3-4 defensive alignment, and he envisions Mathis working his way into the top six.
Sophomore Kirby Ennis (6-4, 280) took a lot of snaps at defensive end Monday.
"I love Kirby Ennis," Sherman said. "He's a great kid. He works extremely hard coming off an [knee] injury in the bowl game, so he's not 100 percent."
Sherman is hopeful Ennis can break the two-deep depth chart.
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Firing guys: The coaches seemed more vocal then previous practices, often replacing players during scrimmage sessions for mental mistakes or not carrying out assignments.
"The last two weeks was about installation, learning everything," Sherman said. "We've gone over it, over it and over it in meetings and practices. That's about detail. And so if they can't detail it, and they don't do it exactly as we want it done, I'm going to fire them and give someone else a chance. So we fired a couple of guys today. Some of those guys made it into the unemployment line and made it back and got a job."
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Tight end shuffling: Freshman Nehemiah Hicks had more work at tight end with redshirt freshman Hutson Prioleau (high ankle sprain) and sophomore Michael Lamothe (rib) getting injured in Saturday's scrimmage.
"I think [Hicks] is a very talented young man," Sherman said. "He needs to play a little faster."
Prioleau didn't even watch practice. Sherman said high ankle sprains typically need about six treatments daily and it doesn't make sense for the injured player to be standing, watching practice instead of rehabilitating.
"So he'll watch the tape and get better off that," Sherman said.
Former quarterback Tommy Dorman, who was moved to tight end and then inside linebacker, was back at tight end. The sophomore made a couple of catches.
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Tough day for Bullock: Junior place-kicker Randy Bullock missed more field goals than he made during a kicking session. He also missed two field goals in Saturday's scrimmage before bouncing back to make two.
"He started kicking well [in fall camp], but he just kind of got into a little funk right here," Sherman said. "It's part of being a kicker."
Sherman is confident Bullock will work it out, but the focus is more than just Bullock. A bad snap and bad hold led to Bullock's first miss Saturday. Bullock also had some alignment issues in the scrimmage.
"It's a three-man operation," Sherman said. "We gotta have a good snap, a hold and a kick. It's not always Randy."
Sherman said they are working to get Bullock back in rhythm, because the leg strength is there.
"Randy's worked extremely hard this offseason," Sherman said. "He has his own kicking coach, who has worked with him diligently and I've heard nothing but raving reports all summer long."
Bullock, however, was slowed by a bout with mononucleosis, but is getting his weight back, Sherman said.
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After further review: The defense won most third downs in Saturday's scrimmage at Kyle Field, but three drops by wide-open receivers also hindered the offense, Sherman said.
The offense converted a pair of fourth downs on the first possession that ended in a touchdown, but Sherman said in a game they might have punted instead of going for a first down.
"So I was more impressed after watching the tape of how our defense played," Sherman said. "They tackled [but] the biggest problem we had in the scrimmage was we didn't fit up sometimes on the run and we allowed some gaping holes in there on occasion. But overall, I thought we played pretty good run defense.
"I looked at it a bunch of times, but the last time I looked at it, I came away feeling the defense played pretty well -- [but] I was with the defensive staff at the time, so maybe they influenced me."
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Switching practice: The original plan was for A&M's last two-a-days to be Monday, but Sherman pushed it back on the heels of the first off day in fall camp.
"They're coming off a scrimmage, coming off probably going home [and] coming off a big day yesterday," Sherman said. "I want to a get a great two-a-day in and I think my best chance of getting a great two-a-day is after a one-a-day practice."
The team went through a walkthrough Monday night, which should also help Tuesday's practices.
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A few drops: Junior wide receiver Jeff Fuller dropped a pass, then a few minutes later senior wide receiver Terrence McCoy did the same.
"You're too good to drop that pass," Sherman said.
A few plays later, McCoy made a diving catch.
"That's big time," said Sherman who ran over and patted McCoy on the helmet. "That's an NFL catch."
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Injury updates: Junior quarterback Ryan Tannehill (foot) missed his second day of contact. Junior strong safety Trent Hunter (foot), sophomore free safety Steven Campbell (foot), junior cornerback Coryell Judie and Jerod-Eddie (concussion symptoms) continued to be key players not scrimmaging.
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Next up: A&M will hold its final two-a-day session Tuesday (8:25 a.m. at the Coolidge practice fields and 4 p.m. inside at McFerrin, which is closed to the public). The tentative schedule for the rest of the week is 3:30 p.m. Wednesday (inside), 12:20 p.m. Thursday (outside) and 9:15 a.m. Friday (outside).
-- Robert Cessna.
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