Rain, thunder, and lightning did not disrupt Thursday night's evening practice in front of an estimated 6,000-plus fans. On hand for the event was out own Matt "mgrex03" Grecco, who passed along his observations to me before calling it a night. Matt will also be at tomorrow morning's practice.
Also on hand for tonight's event was Coltzilla's Brett Mock, who Tweeted like a man possessed. Between the two of them, and a few other fans who Tweeted their observations, we've got a nice chunk of notes for the seventh team practice of the Colts 2010 training camp:
- Practice was 1 hour, 45 minutes. It started with Position drills. Practice was in pads, though Ray Fisher, Keyunta Dawson, Ervin Baldwin, and Clint Session were not in pads.
- Of the group listed above, Session was singled out by mgrex03 as someone who participated in non-contact drills.
- Since Adam Vinatieri kicked last night prior to practice getting canceled, he did not kick tonight even though he was suited up and in pads. Garrett Lindholm kicked. He also did some punting.
- Anthony Gonzalez, Blair White, and Reggie Wayne (wah?!) were fielding punts.
More after the jump...
- Pat McAfee nailed a 55-yard punt.
- In d-line drills, Antonio Johnson stood out. Showed real power and burst.
- In receiver-on-corner drills, Reggie dropped a pretty routine pass over the middle. Crowded didn't boo, but there was a collective groan.
- In 11-on-11 drills, they had the first team offense v. the second team defense. Other combo was second team offense battling first team defense.
- Bob Sanders looked pretty damn healthy to anyone who watched the practice. He crushed Donald Brown on a run up the middle and was seemingly flying all over the field.
- In one nickel formation, Melvin Bullitt was used as one of the linebackers while Sanders and Antoine Bethea played safety.
- In simulated two-minute drills, first unit offense scored with 21-seconds left on 31-yard TD pass to Reggie Wayne. Wayne beat corner on a double-move.
- Curtis Painter and second team offense were stopped at the 35-yard line.
- Pierre Garcon and Gonzo stood out. Garcon was "digging" receptions seemingly out of the dirt. Gonzo looked very fast, but worked exclusively with second team offense. He beat Terrail Lambert on a crossing route that looked pretty good.
- For mgrex03, the player who stood out for him was, surprisingly, reserve tight end Colin Cloherty. He got reps with first team offense at one point.
- Brody Eldridge also got reps with first team offense.
- John Chick has a sack on one play.
- Several deep balls broken up tonight by Jerraud Powers and Jacob Lacey.
- Brandon James played mostly with third string offense, but looked good.
- Starting guards tonight were Tony Ugoh and Kyle DeVan. Mike Pollak has been relegated to second unit. Second unit center is Jacques McClendon. Next to him is Jamey Richard.
- Andy Alleman is likely done. He played third string center tonight, and was terrible. None of his shotgun snaps looked good.
- When first unit offense was working two-minute drill for a field goal, the first pass was Peyton Manning to Gonzo for 50 yards! After the throw, Lindholm ran out and kicked the field goal.
Many thanks to mgrexo3, Coltzilla's Brett Mock, and everyone us who Tweeted and sent us their night practice observations. We'll have more articles up tomorrow analyzing what folks saw, and what some of the changes in the first, second, and third unit mean moving forward.