On Friday, the Falcons took the field for the first time since defeating the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in January, as minicamp kicked off for rookies and veterans. Saturday was the main event, though, because the two practice sessions were open to the public and it was the first time that fans got an early glimpse of the 2010 edition of the Falcons.
The first practice session contained a lot of energy and enthusiasm from all players. It could have been they wanted to show off for the fans or, the cool weather could have played a factor because they cool breeze that was there in the morning session will be few and far between one training camp gets rolling.
“[Practice] went very well,” said Falcons head coach Mike Smith after practice. “The weather cooperated. We had a nice front come through. I thought it was a spirited practice and I thought that our guys learned from some of the mistakes they made in Day 1, especially some of the rookies.”
Some of the rookies that coaches and fans alike were keeping their eyes on were first round pick Sean Weatherspoon, wide receiver Kerry Meier and defensive tackle Corey Peters. But who stood out in Smith’s eyes?
“I don’t want to single out anybody just through three practices,” Smith continued talking about the new class of Falcons players. “I think as a group the guys did nice job because they have been exposed to quite of bit of information.”
One rookie that is making an impression so far is wide receiver Brandyn Harvey from Villanova, who signed with the team as an undrafted free agent on Apr. 26 and has made all the catches thrown his way.
“He’s got good length and height,” Smith added. “He’s done some nice things.”
But the story of mini camp has to be the return of Michael Tuner who missed five games due to an ankle injury. When he first took the field on Friday, there were reports that Tuner has lost a good amount of weight compared to last year. But Turner was quick to say that wasn’t the case.
“I still weigh the same, it just looks different on me,” Turner said. “Moving [weight] around in all the right places.”
What’s Turner secret? It’s nothing special. Tuner has been here Flowery Branch during the offseason, as he worked out more and changed his eating habits.
“I’ve been really staying on top of it,” Tuner added. “In the offseason, that is when you tend to eat more junk food. I just made the habit of eat healthy and get the conditioning part out of the way so I won’t have to worry about it later on.”
The second practice session of the day was just like the first with players taking part in individual position drills, seven-on-seven drills and two team scrimmage sessions. Matt Ryan looked like he was in mid season form, going 7-of-8 during seven-on-seven drill in the morning session. Another player that stood out is cornerback Dunta Robinson who never got beat deep during one-on-one drills and teaching the younger cornerbacks how to correct the mistakes they were making.
As for injury reports, Jerious Norwood, Harry Douglass, Brian Williams and Peria Jerry did not take part in the two practices today. And with only one more practice scheduled which will take place on Sunday morning it’s likely they will sit out and get ready for training camp which should kick off the last weekend in July.
Jones can be reached at bjones@scoreatl.com
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