August 11, 2005
The Texas A&M football team practiced for two and a half hours in shorts, shoulder pads, and helmets Thursday morning at the grass practice fields adjacent to Kyle Field.
The workout was the final session before the team dons full pads for the first time on Friday morning. A&M coach Dennis Franchione said the turn around from Wednesday night's evening practice late finish and the early start Thursday was important.
"With our pace and how hard we are working in practice I thought that would be a little more of a hurdle, but it was not," Franchione said. "We came out and had a very good day of practice this morning. Guys were focused, worked hard, and it was physical day again. We are making the kind of progress that pleases you as a coach. You're never as far as you want to be. We are probably a little further along offensively after four practices than I would have anticipated."
Franchione believes that the practice session tempo is not dramatically different when players wear full pads as opposed to just shoulder pads, shorts, and helmets.
"It really doesn't change a great deal unless you are going to scrimmage," Franchione said. "It just gives you a little more padding. Shoulder pads is about the same type of practice as full pads for the most part, unless we decide that we are going to have an element of scrimmage. We won't have that (Friday), but we will probably have that on Monday."
The Aggies return half of their starting defensive secondary from a year ago, but face the unenviable task of replacing a pair of senior cornerbacks. Franchione said that four players are making a charge and two of them are freshmen.
"Marquis Carpenter has really had a good four days which we were excited about," Franchione said. "Danny Gorrer, Brock Newton, (Ronald) Ray Ray Jones, all of those guys have had good solid days. All of our freshmen DB's have been impressive to this point and time. They are much more mature and aggressive and fearless than you would think they might be as freshmen. The hope that they're going to be able to offer some help for us this year is good. Four days does not make a season yet, but we've been encouraged by what we've seen and the ability to have some depth at that position.
Franchione said competition at the cornerback position can be a positive.
"The more guys that are trying to win a job the more competitive it becomes," Franchione said. "That can be good and that can be bad. If they are all good, it's a good problem to have. I think they've got a chance to solidify those positions much better than people realize."
Since the completion of last season, Franchione and the A&M coaching staff have been focusing on a player to fill the vacancy at punter. Franchione noted that the efforts of redshirt freshman Richie Bean and true freshman Justin Brantly may provide the Aggies two capable starters.
"Richie Bean has been pleasing so far in how he's handled the first four days," Franchione said. "Justin Brantly certainly has a strong leg. For being a freshman, and going through four practices, (Brantly) has done well. We're optimistic that one of those guys is going to be solid and hopefully we're going to have two guys that are solid at that position."
The Aggies will practice once on Friday morning before holding the first of five two-a-day practice sessions on Saturday.