The Cougars worked inside the Methodist Training Center, a.k.a. the Texans bubble at Reliant Park on Monday (Sam Khan/Chronicle)
After a scrimmage under the lights at Robertson Stadium on Saturday, the Houston Cougars hit the field again on Monday for their eighth practice of the spring, taking them past the halfway point. UH head coach Tony Levine called it the best practice of the spring for many reasons and I would have to agree, the Cougars looked as sharp as they have so far.
Because the weather was wet, the Cougars bused to Reliant Park where they worked at the Methodist Training Center, also known as the “Texans bubble,” where the NFL’s Houston Texans practice. Give the assist to new director of football operations Chris Pezman, who was director of operations for Reliant Park before Levine hired him to the Cougars’ staff. (Pezman joked on Monday, “I finally got used today.”)
Because of the ability to practice in the bubble, the Cougars got quite a bit of work done, correcting many of the mistakes seen on Saturday during their live scrimmage and even getting some two-minute drill worked in at the end of practice, where the first team offense looked crisp and productive.
Levine said that after looking at the film from the Saturday scrimmage, the positive that stood out was the effort and the negative was no different from what he said on Saturday night, which were the unforced errors (penalties such as false starts and offsides, poor snaps and dropped passes). There was a drastic difference on Monday in the number of those errors, much to the pleasure of Levine.
“Things that I said were correctable and they got corrected today,” Levine said. “Today is the best practice we’ve had all spring. The kids were flying around.”
Let’s dive into some notes from the day’s action:
Johnson back to receiver
Sophomore Aaron Johnson was seen in a red jersey instead of blue and was catching passes instead of throwing them on Monday, meaning one thing: he’s moving back to receiver. He approached Levine about moving back to receiver after spending the first seven practices working at quarterback. Johnson will go back to the position he was working out at last season and will have a chance to contribute on special teams as well.
“Aaron and I met today and he’s had a good spring, and he desperately wants to get on the field and win football games,” Levine said. “He’s like a lot of our players in that he’s extremely unselfish and he has a bright future…He requested to go back to receiver to help us at that position and I think you’ll see a lot of him not only playing receiver but on special teams. I’m excited about him coming to see him and initiating that conversation and again we’ve got a whole team full of guys like him that are unselfish and want what’s best for the program and the team and I think that’s why we’ve been successful.”
Tempo back up
After showing a slower tempo in certain instances on Saturday during the scrimmage, the Cougars reverted back to the quicker, up-tempo style they’ve become known for in recent years on Monday. Part of it is the fact that the Cougars did not install anything new on offense or defense so certainly, players were not having to digest new information and could focus on execution.
“Tempo was excellent,” Levine said. “More than anything, the snaps weren’t perfect but much improved. I think we had one false start the entire practice today. We had two-minute (drill) at the end. Every day this spring we’re doing a different situation at the end of practice where we’ll call the team up and explain the situation and explain the coaching points to them and then execute full speed, but not live (tackling). I thought the execution was great on both sides of the ball and I thought the tempo was really good.”
Offensive line shuffle
Just like in Saturday’s scrimmage, there were different combinations on the offensive line. Among the notable shifts were junior Ralph Oragwu getting a lot of work at left tackle (he has spent most of the spring at right guard) and left tackle Jacolby Ashworth at right guard. Both worked with the first unit of linemen, with Ty Cloud (left guard), Kevin Forsch (center) and Rowdy Harper (right tackle) joining them. Bryce Redman got the second-team repetitions at center and offensive line coach Lee Hays mentioned they’re still looking for a third center (Austin Lunsford got snaps there on Saturday in the scrimmage).
Levine said that they’re trying to find the best fit for all their guys while also still allowing for competition at each spot. I talked to Lee Hays in detail about it and ll have more on the shifts coming up later in the week with his thoughts but here’s what Levine had to say on Monday:
“What we talked about this morning (in a staff meeting) is really narrowing the focus and finding out who those five guys will be this spring and hone in and get comfortable where their teammates are going to be on the left and right side heading into the summer and into August,” Levine said. “There’s competition as well. It’s both things really. It’s finding the right spots for the guys up front and continuing to have them compete with each other.”
Tillman shines
I asked Levine about Alex Tillman, the sophomore walk-on from North Shore High School. Tillman has received a lot of work at cornerback this spring as Zach McMillian and D.J. Hayden have been sidelined with minor injuries or, in Hayden’s case, sometimes held out of live action since he is proven, given the staff a chance to evaluate others. Levine said he has been pleased with the play of Tillman, who was a quarterback at North Shore and walked on to the Cougars last season.
He’s done a great job,” Levine said. “He’s very explosive, he learns every day, he’s one of those young men that doesn’t make the same mistake twice and I think he’s going to help us here in the fall.”
Odds and ends
As guys look to separate themselves in position battles, two definitely stood out on Monday, both of which have been consistently productive throughout spring drills: receivers Daniel Spencer and Dewayne Peace. Piland looked for Spencer consistently and he found Peace on a couple of deep passes in Monday’s workout as well. I think it’s safe to say that if they continue on their current paths, those guys will see plenty of the field this fall….The Cougars are still working out several bodies in punt return drills: Spencer, Peace, Charles Sims, Casey Martin, Damian Payne, Kent Brooks and Wayne Beadle….On the recruiting front, Sharpstown linebacker Reggie Chevis was at practice on Monday, as well as a few Sharpstown coaches. Chevis is a 6-2, 238-pound linebacker who has at least a dozen Division I offers, according to Rivals.com, including offers from LSU, Texas A&M, Texas Tech and West Virginia. Chevis was also in attendance on Saturday at UH’s junior day.
Also, to put a close to the book on the April Fools Day prank that Levine pulled regarding Charles Sims: Sims was working out at running back, as usual, at Monday’s practice.
I also heard that Sims’ high school coach, Keeath Magee (who coached Sims at Westbury but now is the head coach at North Crowley High School in the Dallas-Fort Worth area) fell for the prank and was pretty unhappy when he heard the news, until he found out it was a prank. So I phoned Magee, whom I know well from his time coaching high school football in Houston at the same time I was on the high school beat. He was in great spirits and highly entertained by the joke. Levine actually phoned Magee on Sunday morning when he got wind of Magee’s feelings to inform him that it was a prank and the two got a few pretty good laughs out of it. So if you fell for it, don’t worry, so did Sims high school coach.