Miami Dolphins Rookie Mini-Camp: Day Two

[DolFan619]

http://dolphinsindepth.blogspot.com/

Live blogging from morning practice Saturday...

... OK, just kidding.

I'm sure you guys already know about the little web blog hiccup concerning live blogging from practice. Whatev. Less work for me. And more work being done throughout corporate America as guys now can't be online here rather than doing their jobs.

As you may know I wrote a column about Jake Long for today's paper. I was truly impressed by his work Friday. Now, I realize it is a rookie camp and he is facing rookies and free agents. I realize there is no contact. I realize he will have plenty of long, hard, bad days in the months ahead as he learns to be a pro.

But yesterday you could see he is special. He moves well. I'm not talking well for a man his size, I'm talking well for anybody. He is not a big, lumbering, slow Big 10 guy. He moves well! And once he gets his technique down, he'll be fine against Big Time pass rushers.

Chad Henne revealed Friday that he took injections after five games last season to numb the pain of a separated right (throwing) shoulder. That injury sapped his passing velocity and affected his play. But it also showed pro teams that he's gutsy.

Some things I'll be looking at today:

Can Jalen Parmale catch the ball cleanly? He was hit and miss Friday.

Can Jayson Foster follow a pretty good first day with a better second day? The trouble with a lot of rookies is they think they've arrived after one day. They haven't. Some think once they do something well, that's good enough. It isn't.

Coaches are looking for and demanding IMPROVEMENT. So Foster was good Friday. He needs to be better Saturday.

I want to concentrate on DE Kendall Langford today. GM Jeff Ireland said he runs a 4.9 at 287 pounds, which is something that caught a lot of teams' attention during the draft. Let's see if that flashes at some point today.

Finally, I'll be focusing on CB Will Billingsley also. Who is this guy? He wasn't drafted last year and sort of disappeared. But he supposedly runs a 4.3 in the 40 which makes him special already. We'll see if that speed is accompanied by some instincts and coverage ability.

[DolFan619]

http://dolphinsindepth.blogspot.com/

Update following Saturday's morning practice

Here's a quickie update from Saturday morning's camp practice:

It's interesting to see CB Will Bilingsley and WR Jayson Foster go against each other. These are probably the two fastest guys on the field so when Foster runs 9 routes it is all about going fast. Foster got behind Billingsley once this morning, but Chad Henne's pass was overthrown.

Coach Tony Sparano noted Billingsley has caught the eye of the coaching staff with that 4.29 speed but, "he needs a lot of work," he said, with his technique.

Davone Bess has been OK during the workouts but he seems to slow down as the practice wears on. "He has pretty good ball skills," Sparano said, "but he needs work from a conditioning standpoint."

The curious thing about that is Bess played at Hawaii and they threw the ball on practically every down. So he should be used to running route after route after route without losing his breath.

Second round pick Phillip Merling has shown "more strength," than Sparano thought he had. But the coach said practically all the rookies need to improve their strength.

Not to pick on the tryout players, but TE Khristopher Kasparek can't seem to keep his shorts from falling down. And QB Willie Copeland has a penchant for throwing balls all over the place, which makes judging the receivers very difficult.

One receiver that has caught the ball well is Marcel Reece, but at 231 pounds he's not exactly a burner.

By the way, the Dolphins conditioning program for vets is over. They went through 24 conditioning sessions, according to Sparano.

[YoFuggedaboutit]

According to Armando Salguero's blog, they signed one of the tryout players.  He must've looked pretty impressive thus far.

The Dolphins today signed defensive tackle Anthony Toribio from among the tryout players at the current minicamp. “Anthony was here on a tryout basis and really showed to everyone what can happen to a kid when he comes to camp in shape and works hard,” said Dolphins General Manager Jeff Ireland in a statement. “In addition, his signing will improve the depth at nose tackle and will help us get younger at that position.”

Toribio is from Central High School in South Florida. Miami represent.

[DolFan619]

http://blogs.sun-sentinel.com/sports_football_dolphins/2008/05/rookie-camp-day.html

Rookie camp: Day 2

The one thing I like about Tony Sparano is his honesty, and ability to communicate. I'm sensing he's much like his mentor. He rarely holds back when he's got something to say.

Today the Dolphins new head coach shared some thoughts on what he's liked from the first two days, and pointed out some of the things he hasn't liked.

Sorry for the delay guys, but we've got a story about a tryout guy from this camp getting signed, and a story on the Mexican kicker who barely speaks any English up trying out for the team.

Here is the rundown Sparano gave about his initial impressions.

(On Phillip Merling) – “Watching him I was impressed, yesterday going back through the film, watching his hands and watching some of his body language that way. He plays with a little more strength than maybe I thought, but all these guys need to find real strength right now. We need to get these guys in the offseason program and get them going that way. I think they are all figuring that out as they watch the tape and as they see themselves go against one another.”

(On if any of the receivers at this mini-camp fit the team’s needs) – “It depends on the fit. We have several big receivers on our team right now that aren’t out here. Ernest Wilford is a big guy. (Derek) Hagan is a big guy. So when you look at these guys – Tab Perry is a big player – I think for us it was just a combination of finding enough big receivers out there and certainly some guys maybe that can create a little bit – a smaller guy that can create a little bit in the slot and maybe do some things that way as well.”

(On Hawaii receiver Davone Bess) – “I see a player that has pretty good ball skills right now. He certainly needs to do some things from a conditioning standpoint. He knows his stamina. To play receiver in our league you are running an awful lot and there is not a lot of numbers. The one thing with him is he has been in an offense where they are running a bunch of routes every game. They are not handing it off. He is running a bunch of routes every game and I think that is a positive. I do see good ball skills from him.”

(On if Kendall Langford is a developmental player or someone who might contribute right away) – “We were 1-15 last year. We don’t have many developmental projects. We are going to bring guys in here that are going to compete. I said it yesterday and I’ll say it again today, the best players on our team are going to play. No bones about it. If he is the best, he’ll play.”

(On what he sees in Connecticut guard Donald Thomas, the former college walk-on) – “I have seen some pretty good feet from a big guy like that. I’ve seen strength and I’ve seen a little bit more awareness than maybe even I thought with a lack of his exposure out there and his experience. I’ve seen some good feet and I’ve seen some good strength and those were the positives. Those are the things that we thought we’ve seen on film when we drafted him and we are certainly seeing that here now.”

(On what the team saw from cornerback Will Billingsley that led to his signing before the draft) – “Speed, speed. The guy can really run. It is what we’ve seen. He is obviously a little bit raw and needs a lot of fundamental work, but we’ve seen speed and in our league we have to have fast players.”

> Posted by Omar Kelly at 1:29:22 PM

[DolFan619]

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/blogs/content/shared-blogs/palmbeach/miamidolphins/entries/2008/05/03/sparano_shines_at_day_2_of_roo.html

Sparano shines at Day 2 of rookie camp

By Edgar Thompson | Saturday, May 3, 2008, 01:18 PM

Chad Henne may or may not challenge John Beck and Josh McCown at quarterback.

It’s anyone’s guess if No. 1 pick Jake Long will work out at left tackle after watching him for two practices at a rookie-mini camp.

But there’s one rookie who’s been a major upgrade … head coach Tony Sparano.

I’m talking more about Sparano’s candor than his coaching.

We’re not going to have to guess who’s calling the plays, like we did with Cam Cameron last season.

Sparano is a straight-shooter who offers a sense of what’s going on and what he thinks of his players.

He also has a sense of humor, like when someone asked him if G Donald Thomas is Sparano’s sentimental favorite. Thomas is a sixth-round pick from Connecticut, Sparano’s home state.

“He’s a Nutmegger,” Sparano said. “We talked a little bit about some pizza places on Wooster Street in New Haven - Sally’s or Pepe’s Pizza. He knows them well. That’s not good.”

Sparano doesn’t sound like a guy who’s going to coddle anyone, especially a bunch of rookies in their first camp.

Following the morning session, Sparano said the new players will need to improve their conditioning.

“What I saw last night after viewing the film is I saw, clearly in my mind, we had some guys who lacked some stamina,” Sparano said. ” As we got on in practice, you could see that show up.

“And the point I just tried to make to them in the meeting this morning is that this is just a small sample of what’s going to happen and what lies ahead. “

Veteran players have been in an off-season program for six weeks and 24 sessions.

“These guys have to catch up a little bit and they have a lot of work to do in a short period of time.”

Sparano said the heat has been a factor, especially with several players arriving a few days ago from cold-weather states.

“I just mentioned that to them before we broke.,” he said after the morning session. “I said this is one day of two-a-days coming up here. When we get down the road, we’re going to have a bunch of these days; you’re going to have 25 of these. It’s going to be a lot hotter out as well.

“We need to take a look right now and we need to see some of the guys who can come out and do it from a consistency-standpoint.”

Sparano sounded optimistic about the Dolphins’ draft picks. Then again, he knows he’s going to need some of them this season.

“We were 1-15 last year. We don’t have many development projects,” he said. “We are going to bring guys in here that are going to compete. I said it yesterday and I’ll say it again today, the best players on our team are going to play. No bones about it.”

Here’s a few more snippets with Sparano’s impressions of the second day of rookie camp:

Did he see improvement from the first practice to the second? “What I saw in the second day was the effort. From an effort-standpoint and an assignment-standpoint I saw guys a little bit more sure about what they were doing, moving around just a little bit faster, which you would expect in day two.”

What did he think of DE Phillip Merling, the team’s first second-round pick?

“Watching him I was impressed, yesterday going back through the film, watching his hands and watching some of his body language that way,” Sparano said. “He plays with a little more strength than maybe I thought, but all these guys need to find real strength right now.

“We need to get these guys in the offseason program and get them going that way.”

What does he see in third-round pick Kendall Langford, another DE?

“I see strength,” Sparano said. “I’ve seen strength at the point of attack and I saw a kid that moved his feet pretty well for a big guy.”

How will Long benefit from working with Jason Taylor?

“What’s interesting is that I’ve talked to Jake about this several times even prior to him coming here, in our interview process,” Sparano said. ” I said probably the best friends that he needs to make on our football team are Jason Taylor and Vonnie Holliday. He kind of looked at me and wondered why I would say something like that.

“I’ve seen it all the time happen to young players is that they go against the veteran players and the veteran players can help them with some of the crafts, some of the things that maybe they expect or that give them problems. So he needs to really stay in their hip pocket a little bit and get a chance to know them well.”

Speaking of Taylor, Sparano said the JT saga has “been overblown.”

This may have been one time where Sparano had to toe the company line.

Sparano reiterated that he’s not upset the six-time Pro Bowl and team leader is on a TV show instead of with his team during the off-season program.

“I understand what Jason is doing,” Sparano said. ” Jason and I have spoke and that’s really all that matters. Jason and I stay in contact. As long as I know what’s going on with Jason and he knows what’s going on with me, I think we’re in good shape.”