From the Field: Friday Afternoon Camp

Quick hits from the Friday afternoon practice fields in Mankato. Notes are updated and added to after practice and interviews are conducted.

While the morning practice was scheduled to start when it was 65 degrees with 99 percent humidity (it was eventually delayed about an hour because of rain), the afternoon practice took place at 80 degrees, clear skies and 63 percent humidity.

The afternoon session didn’t appear as spirited as the first practice, and the defense seemed to be sharper than the offense, a change from the morning session.

Notes from the afternoon:

In the morning session, there were far more players on punt return than in the afternoon. In the morning, WRs Jaymar Johnson, Darius Reynaud, Daniel Davis and Aundrae Allison, along with RBs Albert Young, Adrian Peterson, Maurice Hicks and Chester Taylor were all fielding punts from the JUGS machine. In the afternoon, the specialists were pared down to Johnson, Davis, Reynaud and WR Robert Ferguson fielding punts.

The highlight of the individual passing session in the afternoon was a shoestring catch that Davis made in stride. He appeared to take two or three strides with the ball just inches off the ground before gaining full control.

On the third play of the full-team session, linebacker Chad Greenway burst through the offensive line with a well-timed blitz to get a “touch sack” of Tarvaris Jackson.

CB Marcus McCauley just missed an interception of a Gus Frerotte pass during full-team drills.

QB Brooks Bollinger was the third quarterback on offense with John David Booty getting reps behind him.

During one-on-one drills, DT Fred Evans leveled rookie center John Sullivan.

In those same drills, Jared Allen easily got the best of Bryant McKinnie on their first battle, but McKinnie recovered to stop Allen in his tracks on the next try.

Adrian Peterson has been getting the vast majority of the love from the fans in the stands, but he did drop one screen pass. He easily made up for it. Not too long afterwards, he took a handoff and juked his way past several defenders down the middle of the field for what might have turned into a touchdown in a game situation.

Chester Taylor fumbled the ball on one play in which he didn’t appear to take a big hit.

Frerotte looked like he was going to get a completion on a throw to Aundrae Allison, but at the last second CB Cedric Griffin located the ball, which was already going into the hands of Allison, and pulled it away from him before he could gain control.

Following practice, the coaches and players went from the practice fields at Minnesota State Mankato into Blakeslee Stadium, where WR Bobby Wade introduced his teammates, who threw mini-footballs into the stands. Peterson and several other players high-fived the fans, and head coach Brad Childress thanked the fans for attending and making practices easier on the players.