Date: 4/4
Time: 3:30-5:30 p.m. (CDT)
Place: Jaguar Training Center
Practice attire: Full pads
Offensive Player of the Day: Jalen Tolbert, R-Fr., WR, Mobile, Ala.
-Offensive coordinator Kenny Edenfield on Tolbert: "Today was a good, spirited day, I thought both sides had a lot of energy; we did some things a little different with short yardage and third-and-long, it was really good competition. The person who keeps standing out to me is Jalen. He just keeps having day after day after day, we're getting some consistency out there from him."
Defensive Player of the Day: Jeffery Whatley, Jr., DL, Midland City, Ala.
-Defensive coordinator Greg Stewart on Whatley: "I like to talk about young guys, but he's an old guy who has come out every day this spring and practiced hard. He's bought in to what we're doing and he's making plays, I'm really proud of him. He is going to be a big factor in the fall."
Play of the Day: In the opening team period of the afternoon, Roy Yancey slipped through a hole to record a tackle for loss before the running back could turn the corner for a big gain.
Team period highlights: The first of four 10-minute team periods featured the offense calling just run plays, with the next two predominantly featuring the run over the pass as well; the final team period of the practice began with third-down competition and ended with the Jaguars picking up the play-calling pace.
Miscellaneous Notes
-The workout included 20 minutes of individual drills and a five-minute period focusing on sideline tackling before team competition began.
-Tolbert had three receptions in 7-on-7 skeleton passing drills — the last went for a touchdown — as did Kawaan Baker, and Jalen Wayne caught multiple passes in the period as well.
-Tolbert also hauled in a 42-yard score from Cephus Johnson in the final team period of the afternoon.
-Whatley was credited with a tackle for loss in two different team periods.
-In the opening team period, Tony Brown cut through a hole opened by Conner Estes and Nick Thompson for a long gain, but the Jaguar defense responded with four stops behind the line in a seven-snap stretch.
-Kade Koler contributed one of those tackles for loss, adding a pass defensed in the next team period before the freshman made stops on back-to-back plays — the second was a sack — during a span of six snaps that saw the defense prevent a conversion in the third-down period.
-Fellow linebacker A.J. DeShazor posted a sack in one team period and also made a tackle that prevented a third-down conversion by South's offense later in the day.
-Carlos Davis closed the next-to-last team period of the afternoon with a 40-yard reception on a throw from Desmond Trotter.
Head coach Steve Campbell
-On the day's workout: "Today was a good, positive day, I thought we got better even though there are still some rough edges that need to be worked on; I was pleased with how the guys worked. Today was our 10th practice, to be this far into it and in the middle of the week I thought the guys really worked hard. Some of these guys are still learning as we put them in different situations, and they are learning from their mistakes. We're getting better by leaps and bounds with each practice that we go through."
-On Thursday's third-down period: "We're getting some good pressure on the quarterback, Chris Henderson, Taji Stewart and Riley Cole are getting good pressure from the edge. We did not throw a screen or run a draw, we were trying to make it as hard as we possibly could offensively; they either had to haul tail or find somebody, we were working on protecting the quarterback and beating man coverage. Defensively, third-and-two and third-and-four are not good situations because the offense has the whole book and can run or throw the ball; that puts them in a tough spot. I like the way both sides are responding."
-On comparing how far along the Jaguars are this spring compared to the same time last year: "We're further ahead because we've been able to stay healthier, we've got more good, healthy bodies on the line of scrimmages. Last year we didn't have a bunch of healthy bodies on the offensive line — we finished with seven guys, and it wasn't like we started with very many — but this year we've had two healthy offensive lines all spring. Normally, if your numbers on the offensive and defensive lines hold up so goes your spring as far as being physical. We've been able to have a good, physical spring, so we're ahead of where we were at this time last year."
-On what he wants to see in the team's next scrimmage on Saturday: "I want to see us build on what we were able to do in the first scrimmage. I want to see us protect the football and execute on both sides."
Up next: The second full scrimmage of the spring season is set to get underway at 9:30 a.m. (CDT) Saturday.
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