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Well, all the days and weeks of waiting and anticipation are
finally over. Yesterday, the rookies reported to their first training
camp with the Miami Dolphins.
At this point, they are undoubtedly nervous and excited, as well
they should be. By the time the summer is over, some will have excelled
and shown that they have a bright future in the NFL. Others will have
stumbled and fallen by the wayside, never to be the kind of players
that they are in their dreams.
And one or two rookies may even be able to break into the
starting lineup for the Dolphins, displacing older veterans and
establishing themselves as true professional football players and the
future of the team.
Yesterday, the rookies - draftees and free agents alike -
reported to camp. The first full practices start today and the
Dolphins will have 12 days of 2 practices per day from today until
July 31st. There will be other days of 1 practice per day, some
scrimmages and even a couple of days off, but the 2-a-day practices
will test even the best conditioned player on the field.
The heat and humidity of South Florida will drain each player,
but will have the most effect on the big offensive linemen. With their
300+ pound weight to drag around, they are at greatest risk of
dehydration and heat exhaustion. Guys like Jerome Daniels and Brent
Smith may have the hardest time acclimating themselves to the conditions
down there.
When I was in the Marine Corps' boot camp at Quantico, Virginia,
we would have what were called "black flag" days, when the heat and
humidity were so high that no outdoor activity was allowed unless you
had been acclimated for at least 9 weeks.
Of course, this is what happens when Congress starts
legislating military training.
The Dolphins players, however, won't have that kind of luxury.
If they aren't capable of keeping up with the team, they will either be
cut or end up in the hospital, like Cal Dixon did last summer.
So, what will happen in training camp this year? No one can
know for sure, but there are a number of interesting battles and
players to keep an eye on this summer and I'll summarize just a few of
them a little later on. However, first I'd like to fill you in on my
plans for training camp.
TRAINING CAMP COVERAGE:
I will be providing my annual daily training camp reports from
now until the end of August, when the Dolphins are ready to start the
season. Typically, my reports will cover training camp activities,
player performances, injuries, my comments and related links.
A lot of my information comes from the typical sources, like
the Miami Herald, the
Sun-Sentinel and
the Dolphins Endzone, but I also will
include any "Eyewitness Accounts" that I get from training camp. A
number of folks have agreed to provide me with their impressions of
training camp from a first-hand perspective and I will be including
those for your enjoyment.
The training camp reports go out to my two mailing lists
(dolphins-disc
and dolphins-info), to the newsgroups
alt.sports.football.pro.miami-dolphins and
rec.sport.football.pro and
are posted on my web site at /.
ADMINISTRIVIA ABOUT TRAINING CAMP:
For those who don't know, you and your family can attend the
Dolphins' training camp sessions for most of the summer. All sessions
are free and open to the public, but are limited to 2000 people. To
attend one of the sessions, first check out the training camp schedule.
I have a copy of the schedule on my web site at /tc97/sched.html and the Sun-Sentinel, Herald and
Dolphins Endzone will all probably be carrying schedules on their web
sites.
To get to the Dolphins training camp, here are some general
directions: Take Interstate 95 to I-595 west to University Drive
exit. Turn left onto University Drive going south. Go to Southwest
30th Street and turn left. Go 300 yards and turn right onto Southwest
75th Avenue and public parking is on the right.
TODAY'S SCHEDULE:
The Dolphins are scheduled to practice on July 9th from
9-10:45 a.m. and from 4:15-6 p.m.
WHAT TO WATCH FOR:
If you do go to any of the training camp sessions, there are a
lot of interesting contests shaping up on the team this summer, although
I don't think that there will be anywhere near as many changes to the
starting lineup as there were last year.
Starting on offense, JJ recently came out with some interesting
information. He has said that the Dolphins will try 4 different
combinations of players at offensive guard and that nobody's job is
safe - that's right, not even Keith Sims is guaranteed of a starting
job right now.
JJ stated that Jeff Buckey, Keith Sims, Everett McIver and
Chris Gray will all get the chance to compete for starting positions at
guard.
Of course, this has raised the speculation of some of the
South Florida writers that JJ is considering trading Keith Sims, if he
can get someone to play in his place. It's an interesting scenario,
but one that I doubt will play out in practice. I don't think that
there's much chance that any of the three players mentioned above can
unseat Sims, but you never know for sure what JJ is thinking.
Of course, the rookies Brent Smith, Jerome Daniels and Mike
Sheldon can all compete for starting spots also, but the general
feeling in Miami seems to be that James Brown played pretty well at the
end of last season and if he continues to play well this summer, he
will continue to start at right tackle.
By the way, Jerome Daniels get's my vote for the player most
likely to pass out from heat exhaustion. He's used to practicing and
playing in New England, and even though he's lost some weight (he's
down to a svelt 345 pounds), the South Florida sun and heat will be
especially brutal on him.
At the skill positions, of course, we will have Yatil Green
working hard to move into the starting lineup. Personally, I don't
think that it's very likely that he'll beat out McDuffie or Barnett for
a starting job at this point, but he'll be getting a lot of repetitions
so that he and Marino can get in sync.
For the other wide receivers in the group, Kirby Dar Dar has
drawn significant praise from JJ in the off-season so far and he also
plays outstanding special teams, so he stands a good chance of making
the team.
I think that it's possible that Lawrence Dawsey may find
himself cut by the end of the summer, along with Charles Jordan and
Lamar Thomas. Brian Manning, on the other hand, is my dark horse
candidate for surprising offensive rookie of the year.
In the backfield, Karim's continued work in the off-season has
really improved his position on the team. On the other hand, Irving
Spikes' absence has pretty much guaranteed that Bernie Parmalee and
Jerris McPhail will be competing for that backup spot. Irving, in
fact, may find himself seeking new employment in September, between his
domestic troubles and his knee problems.
At tight end, fullback and at quarterback, there is no doubt who
will start. "Marino to Drayton" and "Marino to Pritchett" are two
phrases that I hope we hear a lot of this fall.
Craig Erickson will back up Marino, and Spence Fischer and Damon
Huard will battle it out for the third spot. You can flip a coin to
see who wins that third QB job and it won't much matter to the team who
ends up as the third QB.
Moving across the line to defense, the starting defensive line
probably won't change a whole lot. JJ is still looking for every down
defensive ends, but for the most part, he's pretty happy with what he's
got. Gardener, Bowens and Burton are the givens for the middle of the
defensive line and Stubbs and Armstrong (and probably Burton, as well)
will play at the ends.
Two of the more intriguing rookies on defense will look to get
some time at defensive end in passing situations. Both Jason Taylor
and Nicholas Lopez are passing rushing specialists who will get plenty
of chances to shine at the defensive end position. I expect that
Taylor, in particular, will get lots of reps in an effort to see if he
has what it takes to rush the passer in the NFL.
Personally, I think that Lopez most resembles last year's Zach
Thomas in this year's class. He was tremendously productive in
college, but fell to the 5th round because of his size.
At linebacker, it will take a major coup for one of the
freshmen to unseat Anthony Harris or Dwight Hollier at the starting
positions on the outside. We won't even talk about unseating Zach.
Still, Derrick Rodgers in particular has apparently caught the
coachs' eyes during the mini-camps. Even though he has limited
experience as a pass-coverage linebacker, he is said to be
tremendously athletic and very mature and hard working. Rodgers is
another guy who could surprise.
The Dolphins did take a number of other linebackers in the
draft and as rookie free agents, but the one who I personally like the
most is Mike Crawford from Nevada. Crawford is my personal selection
for this year's Larry Izzo award as the crazy special teamer that
makes the team. In case you haven't heard, Crawford likes to jump off
his parent's roof into Lake Tahoe for fun.
But more importantly, Crawford is a guy who played his best
game last year in the most important game of the year. In the Las
Vegas Bowl, Crawford had 3 sacks and intercepted a pass that stopped
the final drive of the game. He's quite a guy.
Of course, the most changes in the off-season have been in the
defensive backfield. The potential exists to have 3 new starters back
there, although that would surprise me a little. At the very least,
however, the defensive backfield will have a lot more depth to it and
the disruptive influences will be gone this year.
Right cornerback is probably the most open position on the
team right now. Even though Calvin Jackson is back, JJ has made a
number of negative remarks about his conditioning in the off-season
and that's not a good sign. JJ also brought in Clayton Holmes and
drafted Sam Madison to directly challenge Jackson and the competition
for the starting job at right corner should be one of the most
exciting to watch this summer.
At safety, the Dolphins have 3 starters right now - Corey
Harris, George Teague and Shawn Wooden. At least 2 and I think all 3
of these players started as cornerbacks and moved to safety. This
should tell you something about JJ's defensive philosophy - he wants
his safeties to cover receivers.
The competition between the three for the two starting jobs
should be interesting, although Corey Harris could wind up back at the
cornerback position, if Jackson, Holmes, and Madison don't work out
well enough.
On special teams, you can figure that McPhail and Spikes will
still be the primary kickoff return guys. In fact, this may save
Spikes' place on the team.
For punt returns, JJ wants to find someone other than OJ
McDuffie to return punts. There are a lot of possibilities for this
job, including Charles Jordan, Sam Madison and Terrell Buckley,
although I doubt that it will be a starter.
As a punter, John Kidd won't really be challenged. For the
kicking duties, Joe Nedney does have a real challenge in Olindo Mare.
During the offseason, Nedney changed his approach from 2.5 steps to 2
steps and hopes to have improved. Early results in their kicking duel
appear to give Mare the edge, but only performance on the field will
really make the difference between those two players.
As for me, I think that a tie goes to Nedney for his
experience with the team and that gives him the edge going into camp.
And that should enough things for you to watch out for during
training camp. But if that isn't enough, you might want to keep an eye
on the Dolphins' new kicking coach, Doug Blevins. He'll be easy to
spot, running around the field in his motorized wheelchair.
INJURIES:
There aren't many injuries at this time on the team, but there
are several players who are recovering. RB Irving Spikes had surgery
on his left knee last week and should be out for 2 to 4 weeks
recovering. QB Craig Erickson also had surgery about 2 months ago on
his ankle, but he has already participated in full speed drills during
the last quarterback camp, so he should be ready to go.
Also, OJ McDuffie is recovering from Hernia surgery that he
had in the beginning of May and he may be limited in how much work he
gets at the beginning of camp. It will be interesting to see who
lines up with the first string if McDuffie doesn't.
And rookie LB John Fiala had arthoscopic surgery on his knee
back in April, but he should be fully recovered and ready to
participate in camp.
COMMENTS:
This training camp has a lot of hope and promise built into it
and for good reason - this is the most exciting training camp and
pre-season that the Dolphins have had in many years.
Of course, it seems that way to me every year.
But a training camp run by JJ is never something to be taken
lightly and the Dolphins will certainly be a different team this year
than they were last year. Without the uncertainly on the team and the
need to make a lot of changes, the Dolphins should be able to pull
together a very competitive team this year.
As for me, I'll be most interested in the performance of the
following rookies: Yatil Green, Brian Manning, Derrick Rodgers, Sam
Madison, Jason Taylor, Nick Lopez and Mike Crawford.
In the battle of positions, the most competitive right now
would seem to be right cornerback, safety and wide receiver.
And the only other thing I have to say about training camp is
this - It's about time!!!
RELATED LINKS:
Curt Fennell
curt@phins.com
DOLFAN in New England
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