Spring Practice Three - Cold & Wet

It was a cold and wet morning on the Wake Forest practice fields. The temperature barely cracked 40 degrees and the rain was almost constant. The rough weather didn't keep the team from practicing, though.

For the first time this spring the team donned shoulder pads with their helmets, engaging in a fair amount of contact and moving at nearly full speed.

There's obviously still a fair amount of rust to knock off, but the guys are starting to kick things in to gear. With pads it's definitely easier to get an idea of what the guys are capable of.

On the first offense vs. defense play of the spring Josh Adams found a seam on the right side and broke through nearly untouched for what would have been a touchdown. It was definitely an encouraging start for the offense.

For the rest of the running segments of practice, however, the defense kept things locked up pretty tight, looking like the veteran unit we expect to see.

The first string offensive line today consisted of (from RT across to LT) Boomer Peterson, Russell Nenon, Trey Bailey, Barrett McMillin, and Jeff Griffin. The unit looked fairly solid and during passing drills did a good job protecting the quarterback. The pass blocking looked stronger than the run blocking.

On the 2nd string Joe Looney continued to look pretty strong at guard and Chance Raines was getting a look at center. These guys didn't look bad either, but still seem to be getting comfortable with the schemes.

With the wet weather things were a bit tougher for the quarterbacks and receivers. Riley Skinner threw the ball alright but wasn't particularly outstanding. WR Demir Boldin caught my eye with a couple of catches as did TE Ben Wooster. Hopefully when we get some better weather (and some more experience) we'll get an even better idea of what these guys will be capable of.

Right now I feel pretty good about the receivers and the line, which generally seem to be Wake's biggest concerns right now. I look forward to their continued development over the next couple of weeks.