Following this afternoon's practice, left guard Russell Nenon checked in with these notes from practice:

• Practice had high intensity today for the first day in shells.

• The defense did real well in the team segment at the beginning of practice, but...

• The first team offense looked very good in the team segment at the end of practice.

• There were lots of installations of special teams today.

Other observers checked in with the following details:

• The defense in particular was excited to have some pads on and hit some people.

• At one point Devon "Y'lou" Brown took a hit from behind and sat out the rest of practice, but was still on the field watching.

• During 1-on-1 drills Chip Brinkman made a good grab on a deep ball but was tripped up by Chip Vaughn, landed awkwardly, and also sat out the rest of practice. Hopefully both Brinkman and Y'lou are fine, but we'll have to see if they practice tomorrow.

• Kerry Major practiced and appears to be just fine.

• During today's Skelly period (7 on 7) the offense had the upper hand except for a pick-6 by Alphonso Smith. Riley Skinner looked particularly good in this drill as well as 1-on-1 drills. DJ Boldin had some good catches, and Brandon Ghee looked good in coverage.

• Punt team work is starting up and looks more stable than it did in the spring. The snaps look pretty good so far.

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Today was the local media day for Wake Forest football, which is great except for the fact that I'm not going to be local media for another two and a half weeks. Information on the event and quotes from Jim Grobe and a handful of players can be seen here on the official site.

As for the actual practice, here are some notes:

• Practice was delayed about a half hour due to some pretty big thunderstorms, and ended with another big thunderstorm.
  

• More team drills today; D.J. Boldin caught a deep ball that would have gone the distance and made a few other nice catches
  

• Alphonso Smith had one of the easiest picks of his career after a ball deflected right at him off a receivers hands. It may not have been the receivers fault though; the throw was high.
  

• Kerry Major is practicing, but there's no contact at practice right now so we'll have to see what he does when there is in a few days.
  

I think things will pick up once the team starts adding pads to the mix; I'm guessing the guys are ready to start hitting each other.

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