Late night with JSilver

Still ticking here early Friday morning.

It was an interesting practice today and if you were one of the fans attending you saw a good representation of the wide receivers. For the first time since I have covered the team there seems like real threats out there. Dwayne Difton impressed as always, but I also thought Isiah Moore made some nice plays. He did get screamed at by Edsall for not running out of bounds during a two-minute drill, but at least he made the catch and run, which is a big improvement from last year.

I like Malik Generett's potential. At 6-foot-4, if he can polish that route running and get his hands down, he could be a devastating receiver in the future. Today the team was missing Mike Smith (whose left for him after his grandmother passed away) and Kashif Moore (hamstring).

Even old Brad Kanuch showed some life. After an injury-riddled last 18 months, that was nice to see.

It wasn't all great. Cody Endres threw a pair of interceptions that went for TDs and Zach Frazer was inaccurate at times(still has a terrific arm). Still, I felt it was a crisp practice. The tempo is fast, it made me sweat out there. That Baylor game...let's just say they better be in shape.

The best play of the day was a terrific stiff-arm from Dwayne Difton on Jasper Howard. Howard then got up and gave Difton a shot out of bounds. It was a friendly exchange after.

Here is Howard on Difton,whom he has taken under his wing.

"He is nice to be a freshman to be honest. He is living up to whatever they have him and is doing a tremendous job. He is picking it up quick.”

Here is what I like most. I finally find some life with this offense and this team. I will admit, I am intrigued and interested to see this team play. That's a change from the tedium of the previous four years. And, I don't think it's smoke and mirrors with the offense. They may be young, but the playmakers are real.

Think back four years ago when Terrence Jeffers and Brad Kanuch started as true freshmen with D.J.Hernandez at quarterback. Kanuch has been solid in camp as a senior, but he isn't even being talked about much now. It's the increase of talent and competition.

It's difficult to make judgments because the media does not have access daily. What I can say is that there is talent and playmakers on this offense now. How explosive? I don't know. But, considering the dearth of viable options the last four years, it is an overflow.

Is the talent ready to explode? I don't know. They are young and Frazer is untested. But, for the first time you can see improvement in the corps. That's a good thing.

Other thoughts:

*Watched the offensive line closely. I like the strength and size of the starting unit. It is the best unit on the team, superior even to the running backs. I interviewed Jimmy Bennett and Dan Ryan after. These guys are monsters.

*I like Mike Box as a QB. Very mobile, throws a tight ball, and has a good enough arm. I don't know about arm strength, but he looked good in what he was doing. Most accurate passer on the team hands down in walk-on Johnny McEntee.