Still no Sedrick Ellis sighting. Practice this morning was an abbreviated walk through and pretty darn boring. Perhaps the biggest news of the day was the kicking competition. There was a very large focus on special teams this morning. The guys over at Fox 40 did their usual offense and defense reports, but didn't really have too much to write home about. In fact, most of it was about the presence of OU coach Bob Stoops.
Offense
9:08 a.m. We've got a special visitor for practice this morning, he's a high profile college football coach that likes to wear visors. No we're not talking about Steve Spurrier, Oklahoma's Bob Stoops is wandering the sidelines right now. If anyone knows me or saw the shirt I was wearing right now, you'd understand why my blood boils a little at the sight of Stoops. I'm a graduate of the University of Texas and diehard Longhorn fan. My feelings aside, I'm trying to figure out why he's here. I do know that starting left tackle Jammal Brown played for Stoops at OU.
9:25 a.m. Todd Blythe is back at practice after missing both workouts yesterday.
9:58 a.m. Reggie Bush has been pretty committed to working on his kick return game all training camp. Bush did not go cool off and has remained on the field to work more on the special teams side of his game.
10:07 a.m. The kicking battle will surely come down to who is more accurate making field goals. But as far as Gramatica vs. Mehlhaff in kickkoff duites, I'd give the edge to Gramatica a little. He put one through the back of the end zone while Mehlhaff was booting his about 3-4 yards deep in the end zone.
Defense
9:47 AM Jonathan Vilma is on the bike and doing some individual workouts like he did after Sunday morning's walk-thru. The remainder of the guys who aren't on special teams have all gone in.
Here is the Times-Pic's summary of the mornings events.
The Clarion Ledger also had some notes on the morning.
Also from the Clarion Ledger is an article about backup quarterback Mark Brunell.
"Obviously, I'd love to be a starter," said Brunell, a 16-year NFL veteran. "But that did not present itself. But I'm happy being in the supporting role."
"This game can be great," he said during a break from training camp at Millsaps College. "It can be really tough on you as well. It's very, very important, but it's not the most important thing. And as difficult as days might be at work or during the game, gosh I have a great family, I love my kids, I love my wife - it makes getting bounced around a lot easier."
"I have plenty of time to do something else," Brunell said, "and that time will come. When you enjoy training camp, then maybe you want to do this longer.
"But being around the guys, being in that locker room, I think I get to be part of something special. So I'm thrilled to be here."
"I'd probably coach Little League, Pop Warner football," he said. "And I'd catch up on some missed time that I've spent in training camp and on the road an things like that."
Mark talks about his scrambling prowess.
"Not even close," Brunell said with a smile when asked if he's still got the wheels. "I can try, but (my legs) just don't move as fast as they used to.
"It was fun, but I wasn't as good of a passer back then. I'd look at the first guy and I'd just take off. Now I can actually go to the second, maybe the third guy sometimes, before I think about running."
Lance Moore also gave us his two cents.
"Mark is a guy that understands this offense," said wideout Lance Moore. "And he comes to work each and every day and he throws good balls. We just have to go out there and make him look good."
Moore, who was 12 when Brunell first starred for the Jaguars, said it's also neat to play with someone he used to watch as a kid.
"When you see a guy like that you kind of grew up watching on TV," Moore said, "and you get a chance to come in and play with him, it's awesome. It's a great feeling and Mark is a great player and I look forward to playing with him."
Peter King at Sports Illustrated revisits the whole Shockey ordeal and explains to us his feelings on why Shockey's relationship with the Giants went south.
Well, after spending time with Shockey at Saints camp in Jackson, Miss., on Saturday, this is my theory why he became so unhappy and got so angry at the Giants this spring: He feels he got dissed by the team at the Super Bowl, and that led to an offseason of disillusionment.
Read the whole article.
Check out Mike Nabors at training camp in this video from Cox Sports. You can also view more video's from past days at the site as well.
I will update with more if I find anything else.