Day 1 was as intense as I can remember. That may sound cliche to some, but it's the natural byproduct of the accumulation of talent and expectations. Here are some of my quick-hitter thoughts from both the media portion of practice and the VIP access:

- Here's something that Ahmmon pointed out to me during the closed portion of practice- a big-name player (one of the best on the team) noticed that another big-time player didn't finish a drill as hard as he could have. These two players don't even play the same position. The first player held his teammate accountable, and the second player went back and finished at a championship standard. There were no coaches around, and Ahmmon immediately picked up on this small example of championship culture.

- The WR and DB rooms may be the deepest on the team. It looked that way in spring, and it's even more pronounced now. They were competing from 1-on-1s through team drills. The catches were contested, and there were several spectacular PBUs and a couple INTs. OJ Frederique has put on a ton of weight (over 195 pounds) and is moving as well as ever. He appears on a mission to be a first round pick. He battled with Cooper Barkate all practice and had an INT in the open period. Ethan O'Connor added 20+ pounds of weight in one year and seems to be running the same way as before.

Daylyn Upshaw flashed late hands and continues to elevate his physical traits and skillset with hard work. Josh Moore looked smooth as ever coming off his ankle injury and was able to sink his hips and separate in team drills.

Omar Thornton showed surprising coverage ability for someone labeled as a hitter. Chris Ewald and Jaelen Waters also had nice days with multiple PBUs.

- I was really pleased with the quarterback play on Day 1. Darian Mensah looks better than he did in spring, and is further along in the process than Carson Beck at the stage (which makes sense given Day 1 of camp was Beck's first practice from injury). Mensah has outstanding field vision and punished the blitz with explosive throws downfield. This was the best I've seen Luke Nickel look since he's been here. His placement was outstanding all day.

- Israel Briggs continues to show high-level athleticism at TE. He's up to 230 pounds (he was 195 in spring) and has difference-making potential. I expect him to play right away and factor into this offense. Elija Lofton is back in the 230s himself and looks significantly faster and healthier than he did in spring and last camp.

- Competition is the theme at OL. There was much more rotation with the 1s than there was in spring, and I saw at least 8 players get reps with the starters. Expect Ben Congdon to play early and often. Canon Pickett is also on an accelerated track after being limited with injury in spring.

- Girard Pringle Jr. was back after missing most of spring with an ankle injury. He's as explosive as you remember. Jordan Lyle also had multiple big runs.

 

 

Girard Pringle Jr. was back after missing most of spring with an ankle injury. He's as explosive as you remember

 

Day 1 was as intense as I can remember.

OJ Frederique has put on a ton of weight

Ethan O'Connor added 20+ pounds of weight

 

Might be a big year for the Pickett brothers. Can Canon play center?

 

Trenches were the strength of team last year and now it seems to be the skill guys as the alpha groups. Briggs hype is loading . Nice to hear Canon Pickett get a mention. I personally have minimal worries about the OL considering 1 month of camp and first 4 games of schedule are perfect for them to gel. Got my eyes fixed on TE, linebacker, and QB2 battle.

 

WRs and CBs will face their best competition in practice similar to how the DEs and OTs did last year

 

“a big-name player (one of the best on the team) noticed that another big-time player didn't finish a drill as hard as he could have. … The first player held his teammate accountable, … small example of championship culture.”

Wouldn’t championship culture just be that they finish the drill with full effort?

 

Wouldn’t championship culture just be that they finish the drill with full effort?

Correct.

 

“a big-name player (one of the best on the team) noticed that another big-time player didn't finish a drill as hard as he could have. … The first player held his teammate accountable, … small example of championship culture.”

Wouldn’t championship culture just be that they finish the drill with full effort?

Effort was outstanding all day. But attention to detail is a continuous process.

 

I’m happy to hear Luke Nickel is showing flashes. He’s a real threat to start next year even with Izzy Abrams coming in

 

I’m happy to hear Luke Nickel is showing flashes. He’s a real threat to start next year even with Izzy Abrams coming in

He’s the frontrunner with Coleman being his main competition.

Izzy isn’t going to start Day 1 next year; unless a miracle occurs where his body transforms and he has a flawless fall camp. My take has Nothing to do with Izzy himself; his school doesn’t allow him to graduate early which means he will miss spring practice. That’s asking a lot of a true freshman, summer enrollee.

Kaaya got the nod but he was only battling Jake Heaps, after Ryan Williams got injured, who also enrolled in June. Kevin Olsen also self-ejected himself from that qb competition.

 

Wouldn’t championship culture just be that they finish the drill with full effort?

Sure but you're not going to get perfection every day and every rep from 18-23 year olds. Championship culture does not mean perfection. What it does mean is teammates being there to hold each other accountable to a championship standard and having that mindset and attitude metastisize throughout the entire rooster.

 

Sounds like O’Conner took that championship game personally

He was already tremendous in run support and physical but he got beat that day. He could be a real problem if he’s put on that much size and strength

 

Sounds like O’Conner took that championship game personally

He was already tremendous in run support and physical but he got beat that day. He could be a real problem if he’s put on that much size and strength

I'm a firm believer in Rule #76 -- No Excuses, Play Like a Champion

BUTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT......Charlie Becker is an NFL WR and probably one of the 6-8 best WRs in the sport this season. Him and Mendoza beat every corner the played like a drum with that back shoulder ****.

Regardless though, be better. Period. Wanna win championships? Make championship plays. He didn't, so yeah I'm with you, it's nice to see he's been in the lab. Let's hope it translates. This secondary has the potential to be unfair.

 

Sure but you're not going to get perfection every day and every rep from 18-23 year olds. Championship culture does not mean perfection. What it does mean is teammates being there to hold each other accountable to a championship standard and having that mindset and attitude metastisize throughout the entire rooster.

pretty sure championship culture means winning a championship. holding others accountable is a great quality in a teammate -- i just don't see the correlation. i've held others accountable before and it definitely did NOT mean we were a championship culture.

 

Sure but you're not going to get perfection every day and every rep from 18-23 year olds. Championship culture does not mean perfection. What it does mean is teammates being there to hold each other accountable to a championship standard and having that mindset and attitude metastisize throughout the entire rooster.

 

“Israel Briggs continues to show high-level athleticism at TE. He's up to 230 pounds (he was 195 in spring)”

Finally on that deer antler

 

Day 1 was as intense as I can remember. That may sound cliche to some, but it's the natural byproduct of the accumulation of talent and expectations. Here are some of my quick-hitter thoughts from both the media portion of practice and the VIP access:

- Here's something that Ahmmon pointed out to me during the closed portion of practice- a big-name player (one of the best on the team) noticed that another big-time player didn't finish a drill as hard as he could have. These two players don't even play the same position. The first player held his teammate accountable, and the second player went back and finished at a championship standard. There were no coaches around, and Ahmmon immediately picked up on this small example of championship culture.

- The WR and DB rooms may be the deepest on the team. It looked that way in spring, and it's even more pronounced now. They were competing from 1-on-1s through team drills. The catches were contested, and there were several spectacular PBUs and a couple INTs. OJ Frederique has put on a ton of weight (over 195 pounds) and is moving as well as ever. He appears on a mission to be a first round pick. He battled with Cooper Barkate all practice and had an INT in the open period. Ethan O'Connor added 20+ pounds of weight in one year and seems to be running the same way as before.

Daylyn Upshaw flashed late hands and continues to elevate his physical traits and skillset with hard work. Josh Moore looked smooth as ever coming off his ankle injury and was able to sink his hips and separate in team drills.

Omar Thornton showed surprising coverage ability for someone labeled as a hitter. Chris Ewald and Jaelen Waters also had nice days with multiple PBUs.

- I was really pleased with the quarterback play on Day 1. Darian Mensah looks better than he did in spring, and is further along in the process than Carson Beck at the stage (which makes sense given Day 1 of camp was Beck's first practice from injury). Mensah has outstanding field vision and punished the blitz with explosive throws downfield. This was the best I've seen Luke Nickel look since he's been here. His placement was outstanding all day.

- Israel Briggs continues to show high-level athleticism at TE. He's up to 230 pounds (he was 195 in spring) and has difference-making potential. I expect him to play right away and factor into this offense. Elija Lofton is back in the 230s himself and looks significantly faster and healthier than he did in spring and last camp.

- Competition is the theme at OL. There was much more rotation with the 1s than there was in spring, and I saw at least 8 players get reps with the starters. Expect Ben Congdon to play early and often. Canon Pickett is also on an accelerated track after being limited with injury in spring.

- Girard Pringle Jr. was back after missing most of spring with an ankle injury. He's as explosive as you remember. Jordan Lyle also had multiple big runs.

"Omar Thornton showed surprising coverage ability for someone labeled as a hitter."

I realize that this was the 1st day of camp but I found the above to be significant. I get the feeling that we may be looking at a trend here. Last year we brought Jacoby Thomas over from Tennessee and the general consensus on him was that he was a big hitter who was probably lacking a bit in the coverage department. Thomas responded by far outplaying the expectations we had of him and being a leader for the defense and team. He was a fantastic hitter and excelled vs the run as well as being an effective blitzer. However the aspect of his game that took us by surprise was his vastly improved coverage ability. No, he wasn't Ed Reed back there but he was far from the one dimensional box safety that many thought we were getting. This off-season we went out and got Omar Thornton. Thornton is well known for being an ultra physical safety who hits like a truck. What he isn't known for is elite coverage ability as his numbers last year showed . Like I said it's only the first day of fall camp but I had been hearing whispers about Thornton improving his coverage game but didn't give it much thought until I read the above.

So what's the connection? What do both situations have in common? Will Harris. Coach Harris is the pass defense coordinator and Safety coach and the above is another reminder of what an elite staff we have but don't take my word for it. Watch any National College Football podcast and you will hear over and over again that Mario has put together one of the very best coaching staff's in the entire country. We had a few coaches leave to the NFL as is to be expected from an elite staff. However taking everything into consideration we really managed to keep most of it intact and add quality coaches like Terry Jefferson(CBs), Favian Upshaw(RBs) and Mike Viti(TEs). Bringing back position coaches like Will Harris, Kevin Beard and Alex Mirabal in addition to both coordinators Shannon Dawson and Corey Hetherman was huge for this team in 2026. Mario has stocked this rooster full of talent on both lines and both sides of the ball. He has instilled a championship culture and has full team buy in. He has recruits from all over the country talking about this program with excitement. We have a President and an administration that supports the football program 1000% and we have a collective that is the envy of the sport. Lastly we have a crucial piece of the puzzle that is absolutely necessary to win championships. An elite coaching staff.

 

pretty sure championship culture means winning a championship. holding others accountable is a great quality in a teammate -- i just don't see the correlation. i've held others accountable before and it definitely did NOT mean we were a championship culture.