Practice No. 5: The Texas A&M football team had its first workout in full pads for 2 hours, 30 minutes on the Coolidge Practice Fields on Friday.
"I thought it was very competitive, all the way to the end," A&M head coach Mike Sherman said. "The biggest thing I challenged them on was [to] be good at the end of practice.
"I was fairly pleased today. It wasn't perfect by any stretch. We made some mistakes, but as long as they keep working hard, we'll be able to correct the mistakes we're making."
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Unusual punt returners: Practice ended with the offense matched up against the defense in an unusual punt return competition. Redshirt freshman defensive lineman Rhontae Scales (6-foot-6, 317 pounds) made a nice catch, then freshman offensive lineman Jarvis Harrison (6-4, 330) allowed the ball to slip through his hands, setting off celebration among the defensive players.
The offense won the day's competition, but Scales' grab coupled with Harrison's muff meant the defense didn't have to run.
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A good sign: Sherman said it seems like last season's first practice in pads was 30 years ago, so it's hard for him to make comparisons.
"I will say this, just from the start of practice to the end, there's more hitting, it's more physical than it's been since I've been here," said the third-year coach.
He rattled off intra-squad competition making for better practices -- young offensive linemen pushing the veterans, sophomore wide receiver Uzoma Nwachukwu trying to get his starting spot back from senior Terrence McCoy, backup sophomore wide receiver Brandal Jackson battling junior Jeff Fuller, sophomore Jonathan Stewart stepping up at outside linebacker, and many defensive backs battling for playing time.
"I think that elevates everything," Sherman said.
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Quarterback grades: Sherman said the performance by starting senior quarterback Jerrod Johnson thus far has been "above average" and that junior backup Ryan Tannehill had a good day.
Johnson was limited in spring drills while recovering from minor shoulder surgery.
"It's just not great yet, but in defense of him, he didn't have spring ball and we kinda worked through things," Sherman said. "We put a lot on him [thus far]. I think he'll have some great days ahead, it's just a matter of him getting comfortable throwing the football again."
All the quarterbacks have looked uncomfortable at times, but Sherman said that's typical in the first week with so much to digest.
"Ryan was much like Jerrod," Sherman said. "I thought today was good. I thought he managed it pretty well. I thought Tannehill was better today than he's been, but not as good as he'll be."
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Finding another real McCoy: Sherman said in the offseason that tight end Jamie McCoy would be the most missed player, and workouts have confirmed that.
McCoy was a hybrid who could play tight end, fullback or slot receiver. He's in camp with the St. Louis Rams after signing as a free agent.
"Heck, at St. Louis he's [also] playing tailback," Sherman said.
Sherman has seen progress from senior Kenny Brown (6-3, 227), redshirt freshman Hutson Prioleau (6-4, 251), sophomore Michael Lamothe (6-3, 231) and freshman Nehemiah Hicks (6-4, 248).
"We have a ways to go there, we're not set yet," Sherman said.
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Scouts are welcome: Several NFL scouts have been at practice this week. Sherman said he has a lot of respect for NFL scouts after being in the league for so long.
"No one has ever come here and not acted the right way," he said.
Sherman said players study to become engineers, doctors and teachers.
"We want to give them every opportunity to do that," Sherman said. "[But] if the Good Lord has it that they can be NFL players, then all the power to them. We want them to be evaluated."
The process makes sense to Sherman.
"I wouldn't want the high school coaches to tell me I couldn't come out and watch some of their players I'm making evaluations on," he said.
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Et cetera: Junior running back Cyrus Gray had a 70-yard touchdown burst that helped the offense finish ahead of the defense. ... Senior defensive lineman Lucas Patterson blocked a field-goal attempt. ... Nwachukwu (6-0, 194) is "competing his butt off" but needs to be improve his blocking and should be the best on the team, Sherman said. ... Senior outside linebacker Von Miller reached out and grabbed the back of Johnson's jersey for a sack on the last scrimmage play. ... The offensive line had some false starts and two bad exchanges from the center to the quarterback, which are things that can be drive-killers, Sherman said. "We have to clean up those little things," he said, "because they'll be big things in the game."
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Is that really a camera? Sherman asked that a question be repeated as he was focusing on a reporter's digital camera, which paled to the big video cameras.
"I'm sorry," he said as he turned from a TV camera. "I just saw the camera. I guess they're cutting back on the budgets, there."
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Special visitors: The large group of onlookers included 112 participants from the 18th Annual Kickoff Camp that was started by former head coach R.C. Slocum and has distributed more than $1 million in to various groups, including the Evans Library and the Aggie Band.
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Next up: Practice No. 6 will be at 8:25 a.m. Saturday and is scheduled for the Coolidge Practice Fields. A&M will come back at 4 p.m. at the McFerrin Center (closed to the public) to complete its first two-a-days of the fall. A&M will scrimmage at 10:30 a.m. Sunday at Kyle Field. Outside practices are open to Aggies. Students, faculty and staff must show their A&M ID at the Coolidge Practice Fields. Students and former students also will be admitted with an Aggie ring.
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Blog: Robert Cessna says the jury is out on the Aggies. See more at AggieSports.com.
-- ROBERT CESSNA
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