*** DOLPHINS NEWS ***
Jul 10, 1998: -- QB Camp III - Last Day --
The Dolphins finished up their last day of QB camp III
yesterday, having completed the last mini-camp of 1998 in good shape
to enter the full training camp sessions in 3 weeks. The most notable
news out of practice yesterday was an injury to rookie free agent WR
Derrick Steagall, who injured his left knee in passing drills.
Preliminary indications are that it's ligament damage, but until they
complete an MRI on his knee today, we won't know the full extent of
the injury.
On the positive side, it appears the Yatil Green has improved
significantly since the first mini-camp and although he is still
lining up with the second team offense, both JJ and receivers coach
Robert Ford have commented on the fact that Green is finally getting
to the point where he can challenge for the starting job.
Yesterday, the Dolphins' last practice consisted of lots of
individual drills, with the receivers and the secondary getting most
of the attention. Check out the complete eyewitness report below for
details.
Overall, the third mini-camp was a success with many of the
rookies showing noticeable improvement since the first mini-camp and
with Yatil Green getting to the point where he is back in shape and
ready to go into training camp.
In a press conference held Wednesday, JJ praised return man
Geoff Turner of Colorado State for his play on special teams and
rookie linebacker Brad Jackson, whom JJ noted will almost certainly be
on the roster in September.
In other news, the Dolphins passed on the supplemental draft
this year after DT Jamal Williams was picked up in the second round by
San Diego and OT Mike Wahle was taken by the Packers. If either of
these players had been available later on, the Dolphins might have
picked up one of them, but they didn't want to spend a second round
pick on either of them, which is what it would have taken to get
them.
EYEWITNESS REPORT:
Today's eyewitness report is of the last practice session of
QB camp III, held Thursday morning from 10:45 to noon. Don Dillard
provides us with his observations, including some very detailed
results of the passing drills:
Day 3
I was delayed at work and arrived at 11:00 for the 10:45 practice.
The team was still stretching, and the practice didn't really
start until 11:15.
11:15
The offense was in white shirts and the defense in green. All the
players were on the second field. The offense was walking through
plays and the special team squad was practicing quick field goals
simulating a time running out situation.
Pretty boring but I mulled up toward the north end of the stands
and looked over the side where the players friends and relatives
sit.
11:25 Horn blasted - players scurried around
They practiced kickoffs. Avery, Ray Nealy, and someone else were
the return men. Ray Nealy was a surprise to me.
11:30 Horn Blasted - players scurried around
Now they separated into groups by position. Linebackers,
QB-receivers, DBs, Defensive linemen, and offensive linemen. The
line backers and Defensive linemen came to field next to stands.
The linebackers came down to where I was on the North end of the
stands so I watched them.
There was one linebacker #40 not on your list so I assumed he was
Robert Jones.
The linebackers seem to run the drills about the same speed to me
until they started doing a drop back drill. The linebacker
backpedals when the ball is snapped and comes back forward when
the coaches arm comes forward to intercept the football. One guy
stood out. He got back noticeably farther than the other backs
and he was #58 Brad Jackson.
Then the other drills began over. I started noticing that - WOW -
he did that fast. Look up the numbers and there goes Derrick
Rodgers; There goes Brad Davis [Ed Note: Brad Jackson?] again...
The biggest of the bunch were Robert Jones and Selvesta Miller.
11:45 Horn Blasted.
They started the Receiver vs DB drill which is really a crowd
pleaser.
Too bad it's on the far field. Another problem was the offensive
players white jerseys were getting grass stain and you couldn't
read the numbers.
I tried to keep track of matchups, but it happened so fast I
couldn't keep up. I missed a bunch and could use help in the
future. Binoculars would be nice.
81 McDuffie 23 Surtain 29 Madison
83 Manning 24 Wilson 31 Marion
87 Green 25 Harris 34 Jacobs
19 Shannon 27 Buckley 45 Walker
1 Turner 28 Mosley
81 vrs 27 Catch
?? vrs 31 Catch
87 vrs 25 87 ran by 25 on a go but dropped ball
83 vrs 34 Out pattern. Really nice catch
in excellent coverage.
19 vrs 45 out. Nice catch.
?? 29 Nice coverage. Broke up catch
1 vrs 25 Out. nice catch. Good separation
from defender.
81 vrs 27 In pattern. drop.
?? vrs 31 Breakup by defender
87 vrs 23 Out. Catch
83 vrs 34 Good Catch
?? vrs 45 Beat Long. No catch though.
?? vrs 29 Almost intercepted it.
19 vrs 25 Go. Passed defender. Bad pass.
1 vrs 23 Go. Passed defender. Dropped the pass.
?? vrs 34 Out. Drop.
81 vrs 31 Catch
88 vrs 29 Beat Long. Drop.
83 vrs ?? Catch
?? vrs 34 Beat defender
?? vrs 24 Almost intercept.
19 vrs 23 Drop
1 vrs 27 Go. By defender. Bad pass.
Like day 2, I thought the receivers had their way. And again, I
was impressed with Geoff Turner who I described as a bowling ball.
Let's change that to cannon ball. There's no bumping this guy on
the line. His separation from the defenders was the best, but he
did drop a nice over the header.
12:00 Horn blasted.
Now they lined up offense and defense and ran through plays in
slow motion. At this point all their helmets came off.
Pretty boring. The humidity was getting to me at this point so I
left for work pretty much soaked from perspiration.
My Comments.
If you go to a Nova practice, an umbrella is a nice thing to have.
Take a water bottle. You can refill it for free at the concession
stand at the water fountains. Otherwise it's $2 a small bottle.
Wear shorts. My Business casual attire was too much. Hats are
nice. There were some guys with ties on, but they didn't stay
long.
They really don't like video cameras in the stands or anywhere...
You can get their attention very fast by standing up with a video
camera. Still cameras are OK.
My Comments:
The news from QB camp III was encouraging to me. While it was
particularly good to hear that Yatil Green is improving, it was also
good to hear positive things about Charles Jordan, Brad Jackson, and
little Geoff Turner.
While the Dolphins probably practice more than any other team,
it was pretty obvious that guys like Green and the rookies have really
benefited from the extra time working with the veterans. It gets
them over the jitters and lets them concentrate more on showing what
they can do.
So now we get to wait 3 more weeks to see how training camp
goes. It should be as exciting a training camp as we've seen since JJ
got here. It looks like the level of talent is as high as it's been
in many years and that should provide for a lot of interesting battles
for jobs.
The linemen will finally get to show what they can do and that
will certainly be as important as what we've seen so far. I can't
wait to see what guys like Lorenzo Bromell, Scott Shaw, Jim Bundren,
Kenny Mixon and Josh Taves can do when they put on the pads.
Hopefully, the next three weeks will pass swiftly and we can
get on with the season.
Related Info:
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Curt Fennell,
curt@phins.com, DOLFAN in New Rochelle (almost)
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