Knights Weekend Practice Recap

The Knights took the field Saturday with the hopes of showing off an improved offense to the crowd that showed up, but the day would be dominated by the defense. Sunday was a much different story though as the team took to the field in shells.

Due to some early inclement weather Saturday, practice was held indoors but the weather clearly did not bother the defense as they showed up to the scrimmage in dominating fashion. The offense struggled to move the chains and had little success in hitting big plays.

Coach O'Leary summed it up best when he said, "I thought some good execution, some things we need to improve obviously."

In what appeared to be the Knights worst offensive practice this summer, the team still looked leaps and bounds ahead of where they were the same time last year. A lot of the struggles could even be attributed to the new installation the team has been working on, with the season opener versus Samford looming in a few short weeks, on Sept. 5th.

O'Leary seemed optimistic though despite the offensive struggles, "I wasn't displeased but I thought I thought we could have made more plays offensively."

It was also very apparent that the Knights were bouncing around several backs with the first unit to see who can spell Brynn Harvey. Ronnie Weaver appears as though he may just be that guy. He is two steps faster than last year and is reading his blocks well, a lot of that may have to do with the fact there are actually blocks to read this year.

"I know what Brynn Harvey can do," O'Leary stated. "I wanted to see who else is going to come to the top as far as running backs are concerned."

Sunday, the team took to the field in just shells but the offense redeemed themselves as they looked much sharper as a unit. They moved the ball well, and the quarterbacks were on target. McDuffie continues to show off his amazing speed and will likely vie for playing time as a slot weapon, as he is lethal with the ball in his hands. The outlook for ‘09 is much better as the offense is taking well to installation that new offensive coordinator Charlie Taaffe brought with him.

Side Note: Saturday featured the visits of a couple star recruits, while Sunday it was a couple NFL scouts that were the guests of the Knights, as the Raiders and Ravens were both in attendance for practice.