Thursday observations (short.)
A brief FG competition of five kicks each on Thursday right in front of where I was standing.
Goodman went either 2 for 5, or 3 for 5, at least two went wide left and into the parking lot. Grossnickle was 4 for 5, one attempt was blocked. His good kicks do not have the height of Goodman's misses, but they clear the line and are straight down the middle. Not close enough to action to see whether the blocked kick was a kicker error or the line leaving a hole for someone to punch through.
Both Goodman and Grossnickle took equal turns kicking FGs. Kirkwood was dressed in pads, but stayed on sidelines except for a few warmups. He did not compete for either punts or field goals. Two new walkon kickers (no idea their names) were watching but not dressed for practice. Matt DiLallo was at practice, watching.
On punts, Grossnickle looked a little rusty to start but was hitting 4.4 second hangtimes by the end of practice. They were doing a punt return drill and the balls kept drifting slowly down to the waiting PR, who would catch it and be immediately surrounded. The coaches kept yelling "this is not a fair catch drill, run!" but there wasn't anywhere for the guys to go when the punts were good.
A few guys were having trouble catching the ball on punts --- they could not hold on, and seemed to be paying as much attention to the approaching defenders as the ball arching overhead. A guy near me remarked that they have to get used to the timing of a new punter. Can't say for sure who the PR were, as a handful of students or maybe recruits kept managing to move around into my line of vision. I thought one of the guys who dropped a couple might have been Andre Simmons. Can't swear to it, though. Pretty sure Espy caught all his attempts. When he nailed a punt, Grossnickle had height and hit a nice spiral a few times. Goodman was struggling with his turns at punts, but I can't imagine he's practiced punting much the last few years.
Tried to watch the new WR Coach Prince, but he wasn't on the near field much of the time. From the fans, heard that Prince is very disciplined and has high expectations for the guys. Everyone seemed to think this was a good idea. (Walkon Kicker) Marcus Kirkwood practiced as wide receiver some of the times.
They didn't have roster sheets, so I had to go by recognizing a player or remembering his jersey number. DeVaughn Thornton looks like he's spent time in the weightroom, and moved really fluidly during drills. He was complimented for his play several times, as was Jack Harris, who looked bigger (both taller and more muscular) than I remembered last year. Clark Evans looked strong and athletic, as usual. Ditto Nick Kasa, who moved perfectly fine and didn't favor the rehabbed knee in any noticeable way. Hirschman (if he's #8) only threw a few passes, and both Cody and Tyler took turns at QB.
There was a coaches' clinic going on Thursday so there were a number of what appeared to be high school coaches coming and going, watching parts of practice. I saw a Valor sweatshirt, couple Broomfield Eagles, and some guy wearing a red jacket that said "Katy Texas." I couldn't remember why that should be familiar to me --- might have been a player parent, but he was hanging with the HS coaches.
Sorry I didn't get more detail on some of the positions and coaches. The kicking was going on right as I walked in, so I caught all that right away. It was freezing, I wasn't dressed for the declining weather and didn't stay long, but seemed energy was high among the players. The coaches kept their voices down and you couldn't hear what they were saying unless they happened to be on the field right in front of the fans. When I left, there were fewer than 20 or 25 fans watching, and I'd say all of them were shivering.