Norvell continues to push team for intensity
MEMPHIS - Memphis held its first morning practice of preseason camp on Monday, but the change in time did not leave head coach Mike Norvell pleased with his team.
Norvell had his team run extra sprints to end practice and voiced his displeasure with the Tigers not showing relentless effort.
“We’re trying to have a standard that’s never been done here. We’ve had some good years in the last few seasons but we’ve come up short and that’s just a reality,” Norvell said. “If we want to do something different than what we’ve ever done, we’ve got to practice harder, push more and hold each other accountable.”
Norvell also said that senior linebacker Jackson Dillon’s waiver for a sixth year of eligibility is going through in the next few days and he expects an answer this week. Norvell was more focused on how the Tigers need to improve following Saturday’s scrimmage, and by not doing so Monday, he felt the need to address it without his usual optimism.
“This is a huge week for us and that’s why I’m disappointed we didn’t take as big a step forward as I’d like,” Norvell said.
Here are five additional observations from the Tigers’ ninth practice.
Moore shines with first team
Sophomore quarterback David Moore started with the first unit offense during team drills and went right to work, completing a scoring drive with a touchdown pass to Damonte Coxie. Moore and Brady White
the most efficient of the two quarterbacks. In five drives, he was 15-for-20 passing and led three scoring drives.
All three scoring drives came while Moore led the first unit offense.
Brady White started with the first unit but had a rough outing, going 15for-29 on six drives, and an interception throw to Josh Perry on the last drive of the day.
He led two scoring drives, each with the first and second unit. All but one of his series came with the first unit.
David Moore
Moore was strong on short passes: 12 of his 15 completions were passes within 10 yards or behind the line of scrimmage.
His first touchdown pass to Jones came on a deep pass and Moore showed off his arm with a deep throw to Jones near the sideline.
Three of his incompletions were the result of off-target throws, including his first two passes of the scrimmage. Four of his incompletions came with the second unit.
He was 11-for-12 on passes while playing with the first unit.
“The first couple of days, I felt like I was going through a little bit of transition just in the team aspect,” Moore said last week. “I feel like things are starting to slow down for me and I started to see things a lot better.”
Brady White
White also found most of his success on short passes. Of his 15 completions, 12 of them were passes within 10 yards or behind the line of scrimmage. It’s a strength he’s often showed in practice along with his accuracy.
Of his 14 incompletions, four were off-target due to defensive pressure forcing him into quick throws. Another four were the result of pass breakups or Perry’s interception where White tried to force a pass into coverage.
Only one incompletion was due to a drop by a receiver.
“I think I know the offense pretty well but you can always get better. You can always master it,” White said last week. “I just have to continue to work on my craft with the rest of receivers and running backs and check the calls with the offensive line.”
How did it compare to other practices?
The Commercial Appeal also charted throws from Memphis’ practices on Aug. 8 and 9, the Tigers’ first two days in pads. Both quarterbacks fared quite differently.
On Aug. 8, Brady White was 14-of-21 in 11-on-11 drills while David Moore was 5-of-23. White took all of his reps with the first team offense while Moore was with the second team.
White had multiple scoring drives, including connecting on short touchdown passes to Sean Dykes and Joey Magnifico. He had a deep pass that was perfectly thrown to Sam Craft for a touchdown.
Although Moore threw two touchdowns, he struggled with his accuracy. At least eight of his incompletions were the results of throws being off target.
Both were more equal throwing the next day. White was 9-of-13 passing and Moore was 8-of-11.
Moore once again showed his arm strength on a deep touchdown pass to Antonio Gibson.
Final thoughts
Since the third practice, White has seen the majority of first-team reps. His biggest strength has been his accuracy in the short to intermediate passing game.
Moore admitted last week that White had performed better in team drills. In the three practices since those comments, Moore has improved his play and when he saw more time with the first team Saturday, he had perhaps his best practice so far.
With under three weeks before the season opener on Sept. 1, Norvell and offensive coordinator Kenny Dillingham will continue to assess the battle as the Tigers head into their second full week of practice.